Fate: Last Heaven
by SocialistBukharin
Summary: After losing his parents ten years ago in the Great Fire, Sean Graham had hoped to find a way out of the highly annoying life he had in Fuyuki. The sassy teen wasn't expecting to be thrown into the slaughterhouse known as Holy Grail War and he wasn't also expecting to discover some hidden agendas starting their plans of death and destruction. (Redux version is now up!)
1. The Longest of the days

**DISCLAIMER**

 **The following is a fan-based**

 **FICTION**

 **F/SN, F/Z, F/KPI and other products related to the Fate Series are all owned by TYPE-MOON, Kinoko Nasu and Takashi Takeuchi.**

 **Please support the official release.**

* * *

 **Chapter 1:** **The Longest of the days..  
**

* * *

Homurahara was one of the greatest institutions that were built in Fuyuki City, a town sited in the Kyushu Island.

A good school that many students leaved as future businessman and politicians.

Also the place where I studied.

Name's Sean Graham, average teen that was part of Class 2-B, and I was not liking my current predicament

"Are you sure this is a good idea, Ryuudou?"

My whine didn't slowed the resolve that exuded from the glass-wearing class president and I sighed as I didn't get any response.

"I mean, I'm not good with menial stuff if it's not cleaning or-"

"Nonsense, Graham." A chill shook my back at the stern tone. "You have skipped twice school this week and Fujimura-sensei has asked me to choose a proper punishment. Thus you will help Emiya-san."

A groan started to build up in my throat but died as another whine was instead released. "But Taiga is always like this! I mean, shouldn't we be concerned about her curious smell that resembles alcohol once in a while-!"

I froze as Issei stopped his walk, turning just enough to show a serious glare.

"Graham, you are not funny. So please, cease with this childish behavior or I will be more than happy to suspend you and pass this matter back to Fujimura-sensei."

In a general context, I would have called bull on the threat, knowing full well that the son of the monk wasn't that much prone for such aggressive actions.

Yet I flinched at the strange note in his voice, feeling it way too much deadly at that notch.

Something that reminded my insticts that humans can and will always be able to become 'ugly' when the situation called it.

I sighed conceding to the boring youth to enjoy this empty victory.

Finally we reached the classroom that was being currently used as a makeshift workshop from the 'Fake Janitor' of Homurahara.

Ladies and Gentlemen, Shirou Emiya, the densest boy in the classroom!

Seriously I hate my life...

"Emiya-san?"

The boy turned to look at the two of us, his hands still on the small machinery the school council had tasked him to repair.

"Oh, Issei-san. I didn't expect to see you- Graham-san?"

I groaned as the small smile on the Emiya's face widened as I had to deal with the worst individual ever.

Why you ask? Nope, not in the mood to explain it.

But I will just state that my hatred for the lucky idiot is the Fire that burned my family ten years ago.

Now, now... it's no time to brood.

No, we are stuck in baby-hell with the most moronic basta-

"Emiya-san, might I speak with you.. privately."

Meh! Like if I cared what Monk-boy wanted to discuss with his boyfriend.

Still I felt hellhole I was thrown into deepening more and more but couldn't pinpoint why.

The hopefully-not 'make out' session lasted around five minutes as Issei muttered a good luck to the approaching red-haired boy.

As if I was a menace to anyone...

Well, I did cause some explosions during the first lessons of chemistry during our first year but that was millennias ago... I mean, who would come to hate an innocent orphan?

"Seems like you are stuck with me... Graham-sa-" "I don't shake hands."

Shirou stopped, looking blankly at his own hand before retracting it. "A-Alright! Then you can help me with-" "detonating some private property?"

I admit my own sadistic streak in those moments shined brightly and I almost grinned madly as the Emiya stared wide-eyed.

Hook, liner...

"T-That's alright! You can sit here and assist me when I need it, okay?"

SINKER!

I nodded and proceeded to sit quickly on one of the empty seats and kiss with my cheek the cool texture of the small table.

In a matter of nanoseconds I had already left crappyworld for my happy place.

Or, like I nicknamed it, the place beyond classic bullshittery.

I know, I know 'what is the originality of this place'?

Be me, an angsty-filled fifteen year-old with an unhealthy dose of hatred aimed at the world itself.

Ah... the sarcasm, so nice...

Twenty minutes of pleasant recharge and an hand started to tug at my uniform, collapsing the warm, pitch black mindscape of mine.

As my mind registered the 'issue', it was soon catalogued in my memory under the 'Emiya' folder.

My eyes opened calmly, a grunt signaling the moron that I was not in the mood to be poked nor I will be in the next eternity.

"Y-You shouldn't have fallen asleep-" "Dun't care!" I jumped away from the boy and started to make way to the class' door.

"After that shuteyes I can fully withstand that blasted church and his insane prie-" "Y-You can't!"

The half-yell surprised me, knowing full well that Shirou wasn't the simple human that got scary in any situation.

I had been encountering this moron daily for the latest 15 years and in any debacle the red-haired half-janitor had ever raised his voice in my presence.

"Emiya, differently for people like you, I have a job to go to-" "Issei said he was going to expel you if you didn't help me until the end of the day."

...

Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhh HELL "NO!"

Despite my evident disapproval, I was already following the inwardly celebrating Emiya towards the exit and I was confused.

"What do you mean we are going to accompany Shinji's sister? You mean that **he** has a sister? Are we talking about mentally-impaired Shinji?"

Shinji Matou, professional douchebag and failure of the world, was a Master of Dickery and Annoyancery.

That was the best compliments, since it wasn't that much difficult to see what kind of sick fuck the bastard was.

Cocky as hell but cock-blocked by the same girl he would harass- the one he had tried multiple times to 'conquest'.

If Rin Tohsaka could be actually a normal girl.

Attractive, studious and the most renowned model student of this school.

Despite the bad blood between monk-boy and I, there was a bet that breached even our hostilities regarding the twin-tailed girl.

Issei theorised she was a witch, I was 58% sure she was an Alien/Robot from the future.

Since I am a man of science that didn't believe in magical bullshittery but understood the impossible effort put forward by the girl, I was sure that she was some government's robot sent here to investigate the city after the mysterious Fire.

About that half-assed lie regarding 'major gas leaks explosion', are we sure that it wasn't not aliens?

"S-Shinji is not too bad and Sakura is a nice girl. Could you please be gen-" "Gentle with her? Emiya, I didn't know you considered me some sort of playboy~"

My serious-tease tone caused Shirou to skip a step, a full facial blush showing the effectiveness of my words. "S-Shut up!"

I would have replied with a 'Sure!' but my eyes found the newest individual to our proximity, widening at the petite figure.

Sakura Matou was two years younger than us and yet managed to beat all the physical attributes that Rin Tohsaka had and even hoped to attain in her adulthood.

She had a petite stature, average for someone her age, plum-haired hair that reached her bottom and she had been gifted with a C-size bust!

Oh Boy! Maybe that is the reason poor Shinji had become a pervert!

He has a hot bombshell as his little sister and poor bastard was trying to make up for being outmanouvered in the genetic lottery.

"Senpai!"

And she was giving the kindest smile I had ever seen in my whole life and it was directed to Shirou!

Did that mean that the red-haired boy wasn't actually gay and having a one-sided crush on lil' old me?

"Hello Sakura."

My happiness and celebration died in that moment, noting the usual tone in Shirou's greeting.

 **...The danger had not been vanquished, it seemed...**

"A-Also it's nice to meet you Graham-san.." She didn't offer an handshake? She was already above Shirou in the top ten least hated people. "Nice to meet ya."

She nodded, not bothering trying to understand my sassiness and I found myself actually concerned.

An human being was not worrying about me? Is the world coming to an end!?

The walk was actually short and I droned off as Sakura voiced her surprise in her Senpai's accompanying her back home, while the Emiya replied with the 'killer on the loose' excuse.

Somehow I felt that was a weak one since the murderer had hit very few times and with quite a distance between kills.

Plus, since the police was already hounding him down, he wouldn't try and get easy targets like Sakura walking alone as it would seem more like an ambush waiting to be sprung.

As we finally arrived to the mansion that was Sakura's home I was the first to notice the bald figure watching us from afar and...

 ** _Hans, pass me der flammenwerfer!_**

The old man seemed ready to die there with his wrinkly, fugly face and sickening yellow teeth.

"Sakura, please enter while I deal with those youngsters."

You want to 'deal with the youngsters'? I hope you got some moves, gramps, 'cause I'm kicking your ass-

"Matou-san, we were just escorting Sakura back home since of the murders."

Damn it Shirou! You and your impeccable sense of cock-blocking my badassery!

The man 'relaxed' his posture and gave an 'appreciative' smile. "Good. It's nice to know that youths nowadays can be gentlemen to women."

Yes, excellent, now- Can we go away, Shirou?!

Thankfully the chat didn't prolong for too long, the wrinkly elder citing some backpain and retreating in his house.

Now we were on our way away from that crazy, haunted-like place.

"Since this stuff is done I can go to my bloody job!"

Shirou hummed before pausing. "Sean, I know I already told you this but if living alone-" "Nope! Not interested!"

The Emiya's hand gripped sternly at my shoulder, the same that was currently threatening to turn and elbow the bastard for touching me.

"You cannot live alone, Sean. Even Taiga said-" "She can said whatever she wants but it's my final choice to decide, _Emiya_ , as my real parents stated in their last wills."

The cold jab actually caused a flinch to spread in the red-haired boy's face and his grip relented as I got out of it.

Unwilling to deal with the annoying debate, my eyes searched for a way out.

And way out I found in the form of the small white-haired girl walking calmly towards us.

"I think you should go now, Emiya. Or Lazy Taiga is going to storm your cove."

The boy frowned. "What do you-" But I was already away from him and walking quickly towards the happy-looking child.

Now that I was closer to her, I could see the curious small hat and coat of the same dark-purple.

"Good evening, kid. You shouldn't be alone at this time of the day all alone."

The girl _smiled_ and nodded. "Good evening, Oniichan. And yes, I shouldn't be alone."

Confident as hell, that's interesting and somehow worrying.

I think I remember watching some horror movie starting like this few years ago.

I crouched and started to whisper while pointing at the confused Shirou. "I need your help in getting away from that schmuck. If you do that I will show you the greatest place of the city."

The little girl hummed, eyes closed as she thought of that proposal.

Then her rubies stared at me, almost shining in childish glee. "Alright!"

"Good! You can go Shirou, I need to help around this kid while you deal with Teach, 'kay bye!"

And thus I started to pace faster away from the Emiya, the white-haired girl giggling as she was keeping her hand onto mine during the whole voyage, making it seem like we were two very different siblings enjoying Fuyuki.

During my moments of utter angsty and desperation, I would find myself wandering on a particular part of the city where you can see the most beautiful sight of Fuyuki.

While there were many lights that hid the stars from being seen, the old part of the town gave the opportunity to stare at the beautiful sea of lights that covered the night's sky.

It wasn't an unique place as there where several benches placed for tourists and fellow citizens to see the spectacle.

The foreign child stared in awe at the sky, her legs kicking the air in her seat.

"I know right?"

She giggled and turned once more to stare to me, the same awed expression shining like thousand of sun.

 _This is how I die? Cuteness Overload?_

"This is the best, Oniichan!"

I hummed quietly still looking at the sky, a nod agreeing to the girl's comment.

"I-I forgot to present myself!"

Her voice was filled with panic and I merely shrugged at her. "I don't mind. Everything is easy when you just don't go formal all the way. Name's Sean."

She mouthed the curious word few times before nodding. "Okay, Sean-niichan. You may call me Illya."

I smiled absently, impressed by how she managed to take up the usually foreign name.

"That's a nice name. It's easy and feel nice to say."

She smiled widely at the compliment, staring at my face few moments, thinking deeply about something.

"Sean-niichan? Why were you avoiding the other Oniichan?"

I questioned myself if I should have answered that simple but annoying question, debating if I should pull the innocent Illya into the debacle I have with the moronic Emiya.

Still, it was a kid. "Shirou was trying, with the best of his intentions, to deprive me of the only thing I can call my own after losing my parents."

For some reasons her voice became less childish, more mature. "And that is?"

I always reflected how to call what I had left, what kept me from just falling into the abyss and I came up with a nice name for it.

"My own life. The right to decide to be alone for the sake of being alone."

...

...

Silence fell between us and I continued to stare calmly at the stars.

I felt her body moving closer to mine and I saw her small arms pulling me in a tight embrace.

"You are too nice, Oniichan." And then she whispered something that I couldn't hear because of the wind coming towards us.

"You are nice too, Illya-chan."

I would have died if someone had heard or saw what was happening in that moment but...

Nah. It wasn't like she was going to remind it to anyone he knew.

"Thank you for showing me this, Oniichan! I will cherish it always!"

There was some seriousness in her tone and I just nodded. "Hope you will."

She giggled and then yawned cutely. "Wanna get accompanied back to your home?"

Illya smiled, her eyelids partly closed because of her sleepiness.

The way back her home was... interesting.

I had expected returning to one of the hotels in town, where tourists lived, but our small walk ended up in a stroll in the forest just a bit outside of Fuyuki and to the entrance of the... castle?

"You live there, Illya-chan?"

She giggled, this time barely hearable than before as she was fighting the drowsiness away.

"Yeah.. I just arrived yesterday."

I patted her head. "You sure you don't need to be escorted to the very entrance?"

Illya paused but shook her head. "No... I'm fine. Thank you, Sean-niichan."

A jerk I might be but having little kids walking alone but for some reasons I felt _compelled_ to let her go alone.

Still I kept watch of her until she reached the massive door and turned around to walk back home with the intent of going to sleep mysel-

...

I forgot about going to job.

...

Fuck it, I will explain myself to Kotomine tomorrow. The fake priest can go eat a sock after the crap I've been put through today

Even the sassiest of them all need some beauty sleep in this half-city, especially because of how much insane Fuyuki and its inhabitants are.

* * *

 **AN**

 **Decided to post this quite earlier than I had promised as I wanted to gauge how many people would be interested in the plot.**

 **This chapter had been written... few months ago, while I was procrastinating about resurrecting some of my old fanfics.**

 **I remembered how much crap was thrown at this particular OC when I tried to install it as a minor character in Fate Player Onlien, thus he is here, ready to return the same kindness.**

 **Sean Graham has now some major character development and is not the copy of Shirou Emiya's personality, a way to Magushood is already planned and will not be crappy as the one I used in Fate UGG.  
**

 **This story is meant to be a one with funny scenes but also some moments of serious planning and seriousness.**

 **Two servants had been changed for the sake of the plot but I don't plan to change too much from the main storyline, the major twist happening by the end of this Route.**

 **See ya all soon and early Happy New Year to ya all!**

 **P.S. No, I'm not going to drop any of my current projects. I have created a schedule to fit the six fanfics I'm writing. The Sequel of Zero Chances to Heaven is going to be published tomorrow as promised.**


	2. Kicked down the safe train

**DISCLAIMER**

 **The following is a fan-based**

 **FICTION**

 **F/SN, F/Z, F/KPI and other products related to the Fate Series are all owned by TYPE-MOON, Kinoko Nasu and Takashi Takeuchi.**

 **Please support the official release.**

* * *

 **Chapter 2:** **Kicked down the safe train**

* * *

"I have a real reason to have skipped work yesterday."

Did I have ever say how much I hated every Churches?

Those always had those kind of strict holiness that brought some weird vibe to my sassy core.

Seriously even the Monk Boy's temple-home was friendlier than this old decaying building.

"I remember you using those very words just last week, Graham-kun. I also remember you bragging around having 'fooled' me with that excuse."

Kirei Kotomine was the creepiest piece of the rotten structure.

A man that seemed to have just two expressions in his arsenal. Impassive and creepy.

Thankfully right now he was set in his 'blank mode' and seemed quite calm overall.

"I was pulled into some shady business and forced to abide under a thug for a whole day."

He frowned, before a creepy smile crossed upon his face, warning me of possible creepy moment.

Also, before I forgot, yes Shirou had tried to find me after school for the whole punishment stuff, yet he failed to understand that pain from falling from a window to avoid utter boredom and annoyance was something I could as well pull with a jolly smile in my face.

...My shoulders hurt...

"And?"

I shrugged, thinking that some truth mixed with the early lie could throw him off my ass.

"I guided the child of some rich, european couple staying nearby." Humming quietly, I paused for a brief moment. "Kirei, you told me that the castle deep in the wood wasn't owned by anyone."

"And so?" Then a curious glint appeared in his eyes, his smile widening and sending chills to my body. "Did this 'child' have white hair and red eyes."

I blinked and stared harshly at the man. "Priest, I remind you that I can easily send the cops to get haul your holy arse in jail if you try with the whole pedo gig."

His eyes widened, brief surprise broke in a rare moments of shock. "I-I would never-"

"Don't care, just don't irk me too much and accept the excuse regarding yesterday."

He nodded, a pensive look in his face as he pointed at the broom near the hallway leading to the inner courtyard.

I picked the instrument of mass destruction and proceeded with my glorious duties of house cleaning!

To my dismay and disappointment, my wish to experience a simple, relaxing day at work failed the moment I saw the Golden Moron.

Gilgamesh, or Gil, was what Shinji Matou craved to be but already knew he could never reach in a matter of cockiness and grammar capacity.

The blond was an idiot, thus the nickname.

The reason for such harsh judgement?

"I see that you have been put back in your rightful place, mongrel."

I smiled sweetly at his 'nice' words. "And I see that you are still trying the same act as always, golden cur."

Red eyes widened in fury at the comeback, yet not even the burning fire behind those fazed my smug grin at the reaction I wanted from him.

"Always belittling your superiors, you are a shameful mutt that cannot stand in your role."

"If this was the case, Gil." I replied calmly. "Then you should just stay closed in your room- oh sorry, _your kingdom_ while people enjoy their lives."

It was a funny game between us, one where the Golden Moron would get pissed at my words but could never act on his own words.

When Emiya said that he and Shinji had that 'kind' of friendship, he fail so much in his density.

The rivalry between me and Gil was equally frustrating and refreshing. Spit was met by spit, poison with poison, handgranade with handgranade.

Heck, the moron would actually 'demand' my partecipation in some coop games he had in his room.

What was more surprising of those situations was how the priest barely cared if I skipped work for that reason.

Another mystery was how Kirei picked Gil, knowing how much of a bratty teen the bastard was.

The man truly was one for bad judgements, even with his Mapo Tofu spicy crap.

"By the way, mongrel, what would you do if you could get a wish to spend without rules?"

...Odd question, very odd question.

"Possibly have the best castle in the world."

Walls that the Emiya couldn't breach, infinite supplies of food and goods and.. every. Single. Videogame!

That was the best one sassy boy could wish for and I was surprised when Gil nodded at it.

"Interesting wish." At this he turned around and walked away, leaving me with a confusing sense of dread.

" _What was that even supposed to mean?!_ "

My yell seemingly fell on deaf ears and, few moments later, I resumed my chores.

* * *

"He will make a good Master."

Kirei blinked curiously at the statement, eyeing carefully the King of Heroes as he strolled in the main room of the Church.

"Graham-kun? He sure does the qualities to become a Master but any Servant would still be an issue to us all-" "You misunderstood my words, Kotomine. Also, cease your faux bravado as I can see through you craven mind."

The priest's eyes widened at the veiled threat and he nodded. "U-Understood, my liege."

Gilgamesh smiled as he finally sat upon the altar and looked at the empty man before him.

"Sean Graham would possibly be the best Master for me, Kirei."

..."My liege, I apologise if I disappointed you so much-" "Be quiet, Kotomine!"

Silence fell upon them, red eyes chastising the impatient priest. "You have served me well, Kotomine, but I found myself bored out of my mind by the lack of action. The Grail War is around the corner and I want to fight _her_ in equal grounds.. not in this mud corpse."

Kirei's hand shoot up to his chest, where his second heart now beaten calmly.

"You are going to be bestowed with my mercy as you have been faithful but I decided against rewarding you more as for your actions in the Fourth War." The Archer looked at the Command Spells on the priest's hand. "Tomorrow morning I shall commence a special ritual to contract myself with Graham and I will not accept any interruptions."

The man grimaced, feeling like he was going to regret accepting this but nodded at the request.

"You shall not get disturbed, my liege."

Gilgamesh grunted and left the priest once again alone, this time to contemplate what purpose Lancer shall have now.

* * *

"Geez, that creepy priest could have told me this storage room was so filthy."

Seriously, why there were so many storage rooms in this small church?!

I put down the broom and picked some boxes, creating way to reach the centre of the dustland.

As I stepped over the middle of the room, I felt something curious under my shoe and, as I stared down, I found a small... bullet?

I give it a long look before deciding to put it in my pocket for further research.

Could it be that Kirei was actually a former 007?

That would explain the whole bipolar mood he had and- gah!

My hands was touching one of the boxes on my side when a sharpened tip was slapped by my poor finger.

A small drop of blood dropped on the ground and, as I stared at the small wound, I heard a weird noise all around me.

I looked down once more and I blinked at the various, weird writings in the floor that were glowing a magical way.

"What the-!"

Soon a bright light worse than hundreds of flashbangs blinded sassy, ol' me and I shrieked at the abnormal situation.

Then it stopped, darkness falling once more in the room and, as I opened my eyes to gauge the situation, I found myself in front of a tall man, face covered by a red hood and a mask, wearing a mix of chainmail and modern clothes.

"Hero Assassin here to heed your call." He seemed to notice me now as he lost composure for a brief moment before straightening himself up. "A-Are you my Master?"

..."What the fuuuuuuuuuuuuck!?"

* * *

"So there is this war between wizards-" "Magi."

I blinked, trying to not shriek at this stranger- Assassin about the not-so different terms.

" _Magi._ This war between magic for a wish-granting device." He nodded at my summarised, simple explanation.

"There are seven classes: Saber, Archer, Lancer, Assassin, Rider, Caster and Berserker."

I frowned at some of the names. "Lancer as in lance-wearing men/women or spear-wielding ones?"

..."Yes."

The sass is strong within this asshole. I nodded at him and focused on another concern.

"What if a Servant decide to just... backstab his Master?"

"That's a very rare predicament, Master." Assassin said with a curious tone in his voice. "There are the Command Spells, the signs in your hand, that can be used to control traitorous Servants or even boost loyal ones."

I stared at the mentioned limb and I blinked numbly at the red drawing impressed on it.

"So there is a way to know who are the Masters in this conflict.. Maybe I should put some gloves on from now on."

"I approve this choice, Master, It would reduce our chances of being discovered."

I nodded, trying to make sense of this whole messy thing.

"So, how do I see what can you do? Is there like a magic trick or-"

A small virtual-like tablet appeared in front of me with a long list of descriptions.

 **Name: Unknown**

 **Class: Assassin**

 **Master: Sean Graham**

 **Alignment: Chaotic Evil**

 **Stats** **:**

 **Strength: D**

 **Agility: A+**

 **Endurance: C**

 **Mana: C**

 **Luck: E**

 **Skills** **:**

 **Presence Concealment: A+**

 **Independent Action: A**

 **Affections of the Holy Grail: A+**

 **Noble Phantasm** **: Unknown (Rank B/B+)**

"Two questions..." I mused deeply over those curious game-like stats. "Why your name and NP are listed as 'Unknown' and what does your skills do?"

"My Noble Phantasm is dependant to my name and I prefer to not reveal it, in the Grail War knowing an Hero's name give a major advantage over your enemies."

I nodded at the logic behind his decision, I found it somehow annoying that the gnawing suspicion I have about him increased tenfold after this explanation.

" **Presence Concealment** give me the ability to camouflage myself from my enemies, with my current ranking I can also hide my magical signature."

Literally Solid Snake. I am liking those odds.

" **Independent Action** allows me to keep a major distance from Master differently from other Servants."

"So you can commit mass destruction actions without having me too much close to disrupt them? Nice."

The Servant nodded, taking the praise. "I think that's all-" "What about your third one?"

..."What do you mean, Master?" I blinked as Assassin seemed confused by my words, yet the tablet had not lied to me... had it?

"It says that you have a third skill, **Affections of the Holy Grail, Rank A+**."

He flinched, yet shook his head. "I-I don't know what it could be, Master. It is the first time I hear about this particular skill."

"You know what? Fuck it!" I exclaimed as I started to walk out of the storage room. "My work here is done and I need some rest after this mad plot and all."

The Servant nodded and... dematerialised into glittery, golden dust. "..the fuck?"

 _I can switch from my Material Body to my Spiritual body to reduce the consume on your Magic Circuits._

You can read my head, you can- Wait, Magic Circuits?

 **And with that all Servants have been summoned! The Fifth Holy Grail War has officially began!**

* * *

 **AN**

 **Yep, none of the Hassans have been chosen and I have a reason for it.**

 **Assassin EMIYA is not the one seen in FGO, this version of Kiritsugu literally the one who died in this dimension.**

 **We got two Counter-Guardians, ladies and gentlemen and one of them has a massive bullshit skill.**

 **I will play a lot with the Affections of the Holy Grail Skill as it will not retain the FGO's power.**

 **Also the schedule for this story's update is set for every Monday. If you forget, you can look in my Bio as I set a schedule for every single active story of mine.**

 **Review Q &A!**

 **AscendedHumanity** **: Thank you and yes, I plan quite the shocking way to break that fact onto our dear protagonist.**

 **Matze96** **: Thank you (and happy late new year)!**

 **Guest(Chapter1)** **: Would have been interesting to have Serenity and I admit I have thought of putting her on Kerry's place but I decided to keep it a close story regarding classic Fuyuki.**

 **merendinoemiliano** **: Thank you man!**

 **Reishine** **: Here it is!**


	3. Rivalry Rekindled

**DISCLAIMER**

 **The following is a fan-based**

 **FICTION**

 **F/SN, F/Z, F/KPI and other products related to the Fate Series are all owned by TYPE-MOON, Kinoko Nasu and Takashi Takeuchi.**

 **Please support the official release.**

* * *

 **Chapter 3:** **Rivalry Rekindled**

* * *

 _So there is no one here planning ambushes at school?_

 **As of now I've detected no Servants in the area nor signs of this kind of magecraft.**

 _So... we cool?_

 **...we cool, Master.**

I sighed in relief as I walked inside Homurahara, my usual morning plan in action as I proceeded to avoid encountering Fujimaru and her minions, dumb and dumber.

Few minutes in and I relaxed furthermore as I spotted the Monk boy walking quite far where I was, seemingly busy with Class President's stuff.

A small grin appeared in my face as the glass-wearing stick in the mud was the worst of the threats as the teacher was going to turn in late as usual while the Emiya was going to buzzing somewhere around the Archery club class.

 **Master, I feel someone staring at you from behind.. a red-haired boy.**

I paused briefly, paling at who was following me and, without turning around, continued for my merry way, trying to appear as unaware as possible

 _How much far is he?_

 **He is reducing the distance quickly, I think you should take a pattern with numerous corner and- Wait, why are you running away from him?**

I sighed, inwardly grimacing at the fact that the classroom was nearby and that making a long path would led him in halls less busied.

 _He is a stalker._

 **..I-Is that so?**

 _Yeah. No need to continue this moral debate, Assassin, I need to focus on the subject at hand and- there!_

Without hesitation I jumped inside one of the empty classrooms and closed the door behind me, my face directed at the only barrier that divided me from the Emiya.

I waited silently, trying to see if the boy wanted to make a scene at school and bring heat to himself, yet I felt some sort of dread starting to surround me as I felt an hand poke at my shoulders.

 _Assassin, are there almost naked girls behind me?_

The invisible Servant hummed quietly. **Girls, yes. Naked, no.**

Disappointed and relieved that I wasn't going to be pummeled in an animesque scene, I turned around to find two girls I was very familiar with.

A confused Sakura Matou blinked as she stared at my ruffled uniform.

She was holding a stack of papers and- two blue eyes stared furiously into mines and I felt an headache approaching.

"Graham." "Tohsaka."

We continued the silent game for few moments and the twin-tailed girl huffed. "Are you trying to pester me, Graham, because I've other things to do than-"

"As if I want to be near your boring self, you egocentric brat. I am trying to deal with issues way beyond your-"

"Egocentric brat?! That's rich from the lazy dumbhead here."

Now I remembered why I despised being in the presence of the Tohsaka, she is just as unnerving as she had been from the very beginnings.

"At least I'm not begging from the priest for pocket money."

She snarled at that sore part of her current life.

Kirei had told him that Rin was under his care and that he controlled the finances of family until she reached adulthood.

"You work for a priest and-" "He asked me to work for him, plus I earn my money by doing chores around. Things you should be asking like a good, model stude-Gah, you brat!"

My hands went to massage my poor shin as the girl retracted her leg. "You insufferable moron." Then she stormed out of the room, slamming the door close behind her.

I groaned in pain as my suffering lasted few more moments and, as I felt the pain fading out of my system, I turned my attention back to the other student in the room.

Sakura had placed the stack of documents on a cabinet and stopped from her worried rush when she saw my expression relax.

"A-Are you okay, senpai?" I nodded, a small grin visible and fighting off the leftover of the cruel strike. "I'm peachy, Sakura. But I need to ask, did Tohsaka force you to do her duties or-"

"O-Oh, no." She gave a quick glance at the files and sighed. "T-those are documents regarding the Archery club t-that Taiga-san wanted me to put in the right compartment and..."

"That tsundere bumped on you and had the papers fall on the ground?"

The plum-haired girl blinked at my deduction, surprising how accurate it was.

"This is not the first time she cause this kind of issues. That brat is an incredible klutz."

"T-That is not nice.. Rin-senpai was helping me and-" "Sakura."

She paused her explanation, her mouth closed in silent self-disappointment.

"Rin was just fixing her mistakes and there is no need to explain anything. I think she is old enough to do the whole proper explanation."

She looked pensive, a confusing glint momentarely visible in her eyes, then she nodded.

"S-Sean-senpai, why don't you join the club? I heard that Taiga-san had invited you last year and-" "There is no need to make this kind of conversation, Sakura. I appreciate that you are putting an effort in pleasing Shirou with your behavior but you cannot pull me in this."

..."W-What?"

I sighed. "I know that you are infatuated with Emiya, Sakura. There is no shame in feeling attracted to the perfect husband material."

She blushed and her protests died in her confused mind, trying to grasp the complications that this discussion was going to bring.

"As much as it might seems wrong to hear and quite disheartening, I hope you pull out of this situation way before the worst happens."

The plum-haired girl paused and frowned. "What do you mean? Shirou-senpai is nice, hard-working and-" "Broken. He is broken."

Violet eyes glowed a confused light at that familiar adjective and I continued my rant.

"I had been unconscious during the Great Fire but Shirou watched as the world burned around him. He saw death taking everyone.. but him and this turned into some serious survivor's guilt."

"B-But it wasn't his fault." Sakura blurted, catching my attention at the passionate tone she used regarding the stupid teen.

"He has been told this, yet he continued to believe himself responsible by surviving that disaster. It didn't help when that old man of his gave him the 'Hero of Justice' idea before kicking it and die."

As I finished that sentence, I felt a curious tug to my body, yet I couldn't pinpoint where exactly.

"Taiga-san.. has said something about this last year but- but I didn't thought it was so bad."

"That's because he is quite good at hiding it behind the whole 'protagonist' mask." I explained blankly. "He is afraid of being belittled for this childish mentality. He is in a burning train and those who befriends him and don't help him are going to crash very hard on cold reality."

The girl nodded, a small smile appearing in her face despite my serious warning.

"Then I shall save, Shirou-senpai."

...

I blinked at that determined proclamation but in the end merely shrugged at her.

"That's fine if you can do it."

She paused, a curious expression painted in her face. "If?"

"Yeah, it's not like you have showed much, Sakura. And I don't think that-"

"Then I will prove it to you, senpai. I shall prove _that I will save Shirou-senpai._ "

For some reason, her voice had turned that much creepy that I felt shivers covering my whole body.

Something was wrong with that sweet-looking girl. "S-Sure."

At this I waved at her as I left the room, my objective now reaching class before I got there too late.

Few hours later and two lessons in, I sighed at the pause between subjects to think about Sakura and her curious promise.

I was about to shrug it off and prepare to deal with Chemistry when Taiga entered the room with a serious look. "Class is dismissed today, school will resume tomorrow."

I was confused, because it was something unheard of to hear a quick end of the lessons and that brought no little concern.

Soon enough I was finally on my way to reach the Church, I continued my little chit-chat with my Servant regarding the cause of the early dismissal.

 _Somehow the whole 'Sakura is a Master' theory sounds even more plausible._

 **To see such a innocent girl doing something so terrible to her kin is absurd.**

 _Oh Assassin, if only I had you met Shinji. That shitstain warranted more than tripping on the stairs._

 **That sounds incredibly cruel, Master.**

 _Assassin, I don't want to sound like a monster or anything, but Shinji is possibly the most touched in the mind in the whole class. And that an understandment since I am considering Emiya in the equation too._

 **...**

I sighed at latest unexplainable silence from Assassin and I was about to continue when I arrived at the entrance of the holy site and found a... smiling Kirei Kotomine.

"Welcome Sean Graham, Master of Assassin. I, Kirei Kotomine, recognise you as the last candidate to the Holy Grail War."

From behind him, a familiar blond walked past the priest and started to make steps towards me.

Assassin materialised, a knife in his hand. "Master, be careful."

I frowned at the panicking Servant but my attention was soon taken by Gil.

"Mongrel you should leash your mutt. I am half-tempted to deal with this cancerous stain myself."

"Only if you do the same with your ugly attitude, Goldie." We both smiled madly at each other, trying to establish our usual conversational means.

"I thought you to be more intelligence to engage against something stronger than you, Graham-kun."

The words of the priest brought in some confusion, confusion that Gilgamesh sated with a quick laugh.

"Yes, mongrel. From the very beginning you have been in the presence of the King of Heroes, the King of Uruk and Babylonia."

"Is this a way to try and excuse your bitching?" My rapid fire comment surprised the red-eyed Gilgamesh, whom merely smiled zealously at my determination.

"You should be feeling lucky that I have yet destroyed your pathetic self, mongrel, and I am hoping you will entertain me till the very end of your miserable life."

I frowned at this but shrugged. "So... how are you here?"

..."Excuse you, mongrel?"

"You have been there for far too long before the War started. How are you here?"

The smile was rekindled by the explanation. "That is a curious secret, cur, and the only way I will reveal it is if you-" "Nah, don't care.

...

"What are you talking about?"

"If you are already trying to bribe me out of the competition, I can assure you that I am not willing to surrender."

"Is that so?" The King asked amused by the whole situation. "Then please fight your foes to your best, overcome the challenge of this wrongful war. I want to see if you are truly worth my attention."

..."Gil, you truly are a tsundere-" "Shut up, mongrel! And go pester someone else, I need to return to my duties."

 _He call playing with videogames 'duties'. He is quite bratty, like Tohsaka._

 **...Indeed.**

It was surprising to see the collected Servant that much in the edge by merely standing in front of Goldie- _Gilgamesh_.. Was it something that just Servant could feel?

"For the duration of the War, Graham-kun, your part-time work is sadly going to be post-poned until further notice. I hope you understand and I bid you a good day."

"N-No wait, I need the money-!" The door closed, leaving me jobless and confused.

The door reopened just a little, the priest's head peeking out with a smug expression.

"I also wanted you to know that I might have explained to my student that you are in the war and which Servant you have. Have a good day~"

My eyes glared deadly at where Kirei once stood and I stomped away from the blasted Church.

 _I don't think I will manage it even if I tightened my belt._

 **What about the Castle, Master?**

 _..What?_

 **I think the Castle in the woods should be available for-**

 _No, it is already taken. From what that little girl told me, it was being owned by her family and-_

 **Little girl? Did she have long, white hair and red eyes?**

I paused a moment, surprised at the Servant's accurate description of Illya.

 _Y-Yeah?_

 **...Maybe it's better to avoid that place and think something while at your safe house.**

What a weird Assassin...

* * *

 **AN**

 **In a single day, Sean managed to make Sakura deadlier than Canon, Tohsaka target him first and lose his part-time job.**

 **What a nice day to live in that world!**

 **Also yes, Human King is going to be updated today. This warning is for those who thinks bad about everything.**

 **See ya!**

 **Review Q &A!**

 **stryder122** **: While it might seem like Gilgamesh is quite calm with this whole new development, next chapter will contain an explanation to his unusual restrain. Kirei? Fate handed Kirei ammo to annoy Sean even more than usual.**

 **ZenoZen** **: This is not a Harem story. I have in mind a single pairing and I will possibly get executed because of the character implied.**

 **merendinoemiliano** **: Thank you!**


	4. Things get explosive!

**DISCLAIMER**

 **The following is a fan-based**

 **FICTION**

 **F/SN, F/Z, F/KPI and other products related to the Fate Series are all owned by TYPE-MOON, Kinoko Nasu and Takashi Takeuchi.**

 **Please support the official release.**

* * *

 **Chapter 3:** **Things get explosive!**

* * *

The following day was... intriguing.

After dodging perfectly both my original troubles and my newest issue with Rin Tohsaka, I found newfound solace in the school lessons.

I ignored them, mind you, taking some long-needed rest in the form of naps and opening my eyes just in time to avoid being reprimanded.

It wasn't reflex, I admit, as Assassin had been given the rightful role to watch the teachers and when one of those approached, the Servants would warn me beforehand so I could feint that I was just thinking silently.

A foolproof part most of the times, yet I was surprised to notice that one teacher didn't act upon seeing my act.

Souichirou Kuzuki was... a strict-looking man, very impassive in his lessons and possibly the only reason that made an interesting subject such as World History a nag to listen.

The man glanced my way several times during lesson but never went to approach me.

 **He might be a Master, Sean. His hand is covered in bandages too..**

I hummed in agreement as I could see a man as reserved as Kuzuki-san to be having some inner wish well-hidden from the world.

Lessons ended and to my dismay I ended up being the last one to leave class, a yawn threatening to blow my face with its strength.

As soon as I stepped out of the classroom I felt my sense of Assholery picking a disturbance just around the corner and I deduced only one being capable of causing so much distress in the Asshole side.

I turned to the left, my eyes boringly staring at the pathetic form that was Shinji Matou.

He had his left leg and his right arm bandaged, two clutches hanging from his hands.

"Do you think is funny, filthy Gaijin?!" My smile just widened at the insult, feeling my fury slowly converting in pure vindicative power.

I shrugged. "I mean, you did do stuff to warrant this karma, Shinji."

He almost snarled at my reply, his clutches trembling in the teen's silent anger.

"I know you said something to Sakura, you ordered her to attack me-" "As if I need Sakura to do anything Matou." I said as I kicked cleanly the clutches away, letting the moron fall on the floor.

"You see, Shin-chan." I mused loudly, finding his pained groans entertaining. "I don't need to use minions to hurt you. I will tell you, since I'm honest with this stuff, that Sakura did all of this for herself and only herself." _And Shirou_ , but he doesn't need to know about that.

"I will see you expelled!-" "And I will see you tomorrow, Shin-chan."

As I walked away from the scene, I could have sworn I heard a muffled giggle coming from nearby but I decided to shrug at that fact to continue with my dayplan.

While Assassin's identity eluded me, I was more than happy to patiently wait the puzzle to unfold as the Servant gifted me the best thing in the word.

It was a password for a locker in the Fuyuki Local Bank which contained a key, two rings and six bullets.

 **Those are mine to use, Master. One of my weapons is limited to an amount of special bullets and those will boost a little our chances.**

 _That's curious... why are those here in Fuyuki?_

Assassin paused, his form freezing briefly as he nodded slowly at me.

 **T-There had been works all around the world and I decided to set an hideout here in the city in case of one of the missions being centered around the War.**

 _...Ok, but what about the rings? Were you married?_

 **I.. was.**

 _Did she died too? I-I know I'm a jerk but I didn't mean to be that kind of jerk-_

 **No need to apologise, Master.** The Servant sighed. **Between the two of us, I am the only one guilty of having hurt her and led to her early death.**

In this brief parenthesis I managed to gain some clues regarding my mysterious Servants from the modern age but I relented with the questioning when he cited having lost someone.

Asking more about that would have made me a fugly hypocrite, something I wish to not be remembered for.

* * *

"So this 'Sean Graham' is another Master, Souichirou?" Caster hummed quietly as her hood hid her pensive look.

It seemed that her plan to summon a Servant and cheats the Grail System had been foiled by this summoning in particular.

An Assassin would have been a most useful tool for the Witch of Betrayal, especially to keep her lovely Master away from danger.

It was truly annoying, yet the predicament could be salvaged to the best, especially since this new Servant felt much stronger than many in the War.

Her Master could lure him in the Temple, just like he did with the silly boy that was all strict and suspicious.

She would gain not only a Servant but also a bigger battery to reinforce the Boundary Fields and some new materials to expand her workshop.

Or maybe gain a new, loyal ally to use against Berserker.. Yes, it could work too.

She chuckled at how many opportunities were still open to her and she sighed tiredly.

With a smile, Medea stopped looking at the small crystal ball she had conjured.

It was high time to reward her strong and resourceful Souichiru after all.

* * *

 **Master, I feel massive prana concentration by the Church.**

 _Could it be blondie and the priest-sidekick?_

 **I.. doubt it. It felt too much higher to be just a Servant.**

Good, the war had officially started yesterday and there was already a big battle.

Just peachy!

 **Maybe we could use this opportunity to gather more information regarding our enemies.**

 _It might dangerous and... maybe cool to look? Okay, that seems like a good thing to do before dinner._

The little jogging to the Church lasted around fifteen minutes and when I found myself quite the hiding spot in some bushes, I-

 _OH MY GOD, WHAT IS THAT!_

I recognised Emiya and Tohsaka behind a blonde swordswoman, in front of them all a humongous monster of muscles and rage that waited patiently to strike down his soon-to-be victims.

As I looked closer I found myself stunned by a smaller figure giggling behind the 'roid-man.

 _Assassin.. I don't feel it right when I am fighting literally little girls._

The Servant didn't reply, silently watching over the scene as it unfolded.

The swordswoman halted the first attack of the- _Wait, is that a Berserker?_

 **Surely. He seems quite... berserk in this moment.**

I shot a poisonous glare at the sassy reply, feeling my crown slipping because of this uptight arse.

I returned my eyes to the scene, just in time to see a ball of red and black flying just towards me and- OH FUCK!

Assassin pulled me out of the way, letting the sphere crash harmlessly on the three.

"Gandr. A curse spell that could have killed you, Master."

I blinked back to who could have attempted my assassination and I frowned furiously at the smug-looking Tohsaka, her finger pointing where I stood previously.

"How do I do it? I want to reply with the same kindness."

The Servant silently thought of the implication of doing so but seemed to relent as he explained how to focus prana into the spell.

And as the bigger sphere of darkness rushed even faster than the one Rin had threw first, I was sure I might have put way too much energy in it since my body felt sore.

Sapphire eyes widened in shock as she barely dodged the curse, which landed few metres away and, differently from her Gandr, actually exploded and created a small crater on the ground.

I blinked, a small smile forming in my face as I just learned how to explode things.

I, the Sass King, can blow to smitheerins my fiends of foes and prove righteously how mighty I am!

"It's no use to retreat, Master. Berserker's Master has noticed us."

My hype died at those words, noticing now that Illya was staring at my gloating self, a surprised look plastered in her visage.

 _Welp, our cover is screwed!_

As I walked out of the bushes and towards the battleground between Berserker and the blonde, Illya walked slowly towards me.

"Sean-niichan? What are you doing here?"

I pointed silently at Assassin, the Servant on the verge of facepalming at my lack of finesse.

"Oh? You are a Master too?" I nodded and she groaned sadly. "I truly don't want to fight you, Oniichan. You are actually nice."

I blinked at the genuine motivations of her not barking for her Servant to maul at me.

"I'm sorry for the situation, Illya-chan." I patted her head. "But I actually have a wish."

"Is that so? What is it, what is it?" She tugged at my arm and I sighed but, as I tried to explain it, a certain girl finally unleashed her anger.

"I don't care about it! You fucking moron, you tried to kill me."

I gasped and covered Illya's ears just in time as I expressed disappointment at the newest low of the nagging girl.

"You fricking tsundere, Illya is a child and you should certainly not swear in front of her! Also you attacked me first and I retaliated in the name of self-defence."

"Self-defence my arse! I knew Kotomine was up to something when he told me about you being a Master."

"W-Wait!" The red-haired teen exclaimed in confusion. "Sean is a Master? D-Do we have to attack him?"

The girl turned to look at her ally in shock and I grinned as their united front collapsed.

"Sean-niichan, can you stop it?" I removed my hands from little girl's ears as she sighed in relief. "Also since last time you helped me, I wanted to invite you for dinner.. maybe today?"

I shrugged, a bit surprised at the invite but more than happy to not return to deal with my failing home economy. "Sure."

Assassin seemed to be unsure about all of this but kept quiet, trying to make sense in this new insanity.

Her smile widened and the giant of a Servant disengaged from the fight with the now bloody blond, which was ready to fall unconscious.

The Emiya noticed this and rushed to the woman's side as I let Illya take my hand and led me out of the first conflict of the war, two confused Masters behind us.

* * *

"It seems that Graham-kun is in good relations with the Lesser Grail."

Gilgamesh didn't react to this news, his mind taken by something else as Kirei continued to admire amused the whole chaotic scene, the pain that Shirou Emiya felt by seeing his Servant hurted.

"Is there something that troubles you, my liege."

Red eyes burned dangerously at the implication, silencing the priest early on.

The King of Heroes sighed as he dropped his now empty, golden cup, his eyes showing now conflicting thoughts.

"I had planned to at least have that Mongrel not encounter **her** in such situations but now they are going to be foes in the grand battle. I do find curious that the cur had interwined his fate with that meat doll."

Kirei nodded. "Indeed. For some reasons I find it nostalgic, similar to the previous war yet not."

The King blinked, curiousity dancing in his embers. "Is that so? You want to compare the mongrel to that mutt that was Kiritsugu Emiya, Kirei? Do you wish to attack him? Because I remind you that I consider you less important than him and I will strike you down if you slight me with this."

The Kotomine bowed and closed his eyes. "Accept the apologies of this shameful servant, my liege."

Gilgamesh scoffed and looked away, returning to think how this interesting battle will end. Maybe there was something similar to Kiritsugu within that foolish human but there was also... something else.

Something of old, something unique.

The King shrugged at this, after all he had more than enough time thanks to the War to find more about this little secret of the mongrel.

* * *

 **AN**

 **So I decided to give Sean the canon better version of Gandr, Finn Shot, but he doesn't know it so he will still call it Gandr.**

 **Small changes from the route are:**  
 **1\. Shirou didn't throw himself into the fight to help Saber;**  
 **2\. Saber is now heavily wounded;**  
 **3\. Next chapter there will be a dinner at the Castle with some comic relief given by two maids.**

 **Also yes, the giggling figure finding Shinji flailing on the floor was Rider because of... squealing Shinji.**

 **Lastly, possible second chapter today later on, maybe a third. I felt inspired to write more this fanfic and it's Random day in my schedule so...** _ **lemme just add this and.. this.. and..**_

 **Review Q &A!**

 **Guest(Chapter2)** **: Thank you!**

 **merendinoemiliano** **: Thank you!**


	5. Classy Dinner

**DISCLAIMER**

 **The following is a fan-based**

 **FICTION**

 **F/SN, F/Z, F/KPI and other products related to the Fate Series are all owned by TYPE-MOON, Kinoko Nasu and Takashi Takeuchi.**

 **Please support the official release.**

* * *

 **Chapter 4:** **Classy Dinner**

* * *

"So Shirou-niichan just chase you around even when you say him to not?"

"Yeah. That moron just can't take no as an answer."

To say that I was enjoying a lot talking with this strangely smart, little girl is an understandment.

Illya was possibly the sanest individual I have ever had the chance to befriend before the Great Fire as she seemed to understand much of what I knew of the city.

"But why does he do that? Why bother you so much?"

"Well, Illya-chan, ten years ago a huge fire destroyed a quarter of the city. Many died in that disaster, among them my parents and Shirou's."

She nodded, glancing briefly in front of us as we were closing in to the castle.

"Shirou was rescued by this man, this Kiritsugu Emiya." I felt some weird vibe again and I saw the white-haired girl frown for a moment as I said that name. "He wanted to adopt me too, he said that he was responsible for the death of my parents and other nonsense."

She stopped, blinking in confusion. "You didn't accept?"

"Of course not." I replied without hesitation, feeling a little offended at that very possibility. "A man come inside my hospital room, apologise for killing my parents and then ask to adopt me. I called the nurse and got him kicked out."

"A-And you weren't scared of being alone?" That question did bring back some unpleasant memories of the first few days as an orphaned boy and I nodded.

"I did, I was utterly terrified of living alone. But it was a matter of principle, to not let them go as Shirou did with his own family."

Harsh as it might sound, Emiya did some crappy job making a cult of personality around Kiritsugu.

It was unnerving and disappointing that he still continues to do so, undeterred by many denigrating him.

"Y-You know, Sean-san. You are quite strong."

"Uh?" I stopped as Illya skipped ahead and stopped in front of the entrance.

"I will explain during dinner... I hope you can forgive me for holding back some truth."

The whole change of behavior, from childish to.. mature sounded very weird and I kind of felt quite confused by her words.

The massive doors opened, revealing the magnificent first room of the castle.

Illya giggled as she stared at my face, possibly because of the dumb expression it had in that very moment.

Two figures descended from the stairs, dressed in clothes that resembled somehow a mix of European maid/nurse, their visages quite similar to each other.

"Lady Illyasviel, it's good to see you making return to the-" She froze mid-greeting as she noticed lil, ol' me while the other maid didn't waste time to tilt her head as she stared at the little girl.

"Guest?" The mechanical voice that left her mouth felt... inhuman, fake, yet Illya smiled.

"Yes Leysritt, Sean-san is our guest tonight for dinner."

I blinked in surprise as the impassive maid/Leysritt bowed without hesitation, while the other seemed doubtful at first, then nodded and bowed herself.

"C'mon Sean-san. The dining room is this way!" I spared another glance at the maids, both seemingly uncaring of this as they moved elsewhere, possibly the kitchen.

Illya rushed throught the red-carpet of the hallway, until she reached one of the farthest doors.

"There!" She opened the door and- "This is... impressive."

My comment didn't make justice to how insanely big this room was.

Chandelers made of gold, ornaments all around the windows and a long table with numerous chairs.

We both sat close to each other, it would have been quite awkward otherwise.

"Since Leysritt and Sella are still preparing Dinner, I might as well be honest with you, Sean."

She sighed. "My name is Illyasviel von Einzbern, my mother was Irisviel von Einzbern while my father was.. Kiritsugu Emiya."

I froze in that very moment as I stared that little girl, that didn't look older than ten, saying that she was the daughter of the arse that burned part of Fuyuki.

I had so many questions and I felt that I could ask so little.

"How? Y-You look at best eleven." She giggled a bit but shook her head.

"You are quite corteous, Sean, but no. I'm older than that.. even older than you."

"I-It could be that much-" "I'm twenty, Sean."

That... That did actually stump me in the seat.

My brain almost imploded at how much confusing and shocking this revelation was.

"S-So I'm sorry t-that my father had-!"

As I said quite long ago, I don't like doing highly emotional stuff, too much of a drag in the long run.

But now? I felt like shit because Illya thought she was responsible of her father's actions.

What a silly girl!

I pulled her in a small embrace, I noticed her eyes going wide open as we continued a curious silence for a while.

"Kiritsugu is the culprit, not you. Don't you dare turn into a mini-Shirou on me, Illya-chan!"

She giggled a little, I felt something wet in my shoulders and I felt a small, sad smile forming in my face.

I patted her shoulder. "C'mon, there is no need to cry." Yet she continued and soon sobs filled the almost empty room.

If there hadn't been a context on why this was happening, surely I would have whined how much time this hug lasted, yet the little girl- _the young woman_ had not warranted his ugly side and so he could let this intimacy slip again.

"T-Thank you." She whispered as she pulled herself out of the embrace. "I-I needed that."

I nodded and patted her head as in that very moment the two maids entered the room... with an insane amount of plates containing several delicacies.

This somehow reminded me of when I tried going to a good restaurant two years earlier but, differently from that experience, I felt that the only thing that was going to cry after that dinner was my stomach and not my wallet.

A giggle made me turn to Illya, quite amused by my terrified reaction at what she meant with 'little dinner'.

Sella paused for a moment, staring at that very weird scene and hoping that her Lady knew what she was doing with this commoner.

* * *

"Emiya, you are an utter fool!"

Shirou Emiya was seriously considering skipping making dinner that day as Tohsaka continued to pester him while he carried Saber in his shoulders.

"I-I couldn't attack Sean-" "Why not?! He has been more than happy to undermine you and throwing you in the dirt. That is if you forgot how he tried to murder me!"

"Y-You attacked him first!" His head was subjected to another slap, Rin an inch away from beating the crap out of him.

"He was spying on us! Plus he is the Master of Assassin and he is our enemy in the War."

"Couldn't we just, get him in our alliance?" His hopes were crushed the very moment he looked up to Rin's eyes, seeing two freezing pits.

"If you ever bring this up ever again, I will personally trash our alliance, Emiya."

The ultimatum stung in the young Magus' mind, confused by this hostility against the fellow orphan.

"I remember telling you that it would have been a bad idea to ally with the boy, Rin."

The Tohsaka turned to the side as Archer walked out of the shadows of the alley there.

"It's not like you were useful there, Archer." Rin blinked as the Servant seemed unfazed at being reprimanded for his inaction.

"While I am quite powerful, Master, I am a long-range specialist and I cannot protect you in close quarters from Berserker. Plus, I think that the behemoth was focused on the dead weight of this deal."

Shirou's face flushed in anger at being ridiculed like this, feeling like he had failed to understand that situation truly well.

"It's useless to get all this bothered up, brat." The Servant of Bow spat as he noticed the glare. "You and your silly attitude regarding enemies is laughable at best. This is a War, not a fairy tale."

"I cannot kill Sean!" Both Servant and Master backed away from the infuriated teen and they were expecting this mess to degenerate further if it hadn't been for the now awaken Saber.

"W-Why?"

Shirou blinked as his eyes turned to the single one open in the blond's face.

"W-Why this 'Sean' c-can't be killed?"

The Emiya's mouth opened to reply but...

Shirou felt confusion returning to rule his mind as he found hard to not condemn the predicament he had fallen into.

Sean... Sean was a paradox to the teen.

They both shared a similar past, having lost their parents in the Fire, both were approached by Kiritsugu and yet the black-haired boy had outright refused the helping hand, deciding to live alone the rest of his childhood and beyond.

It had all seemed so much stupid to consider, to refuse Kiritsugu's kindness, to refuse doing good and _make the pain go away_.

Shirou hated the burning sensation he felt everytime he saw Sean showing lack of sensibility regarding their past, ignoring the fact he had been so lucky to survive as if he had nothing to give in return to life.

Yet the Emiya was far from surrendering in trying to get the foolish Graham to understand the truth.

"I will break the alliance if you hunt him."

He made a choice, ignoring Rin's and Saber's stares of confusion.

Archer looked at his younger self, reminding how dumb he had been and how many stupid things he had been eager to do to prove that sore point.

Counter-Guardian EMIYA still wanted to kill Shirou Emiya but Sean Graham actually tried so much to get his head out of the fantasy world he had built before becoming one with the Counterforce, thus he shall take priority and shall be protected.

Thus, in the middle of the War, lots of plans and follies hanged over the head of a simple highschool student.

* * *

 **AN**

 **I'm going quite slow as the HF route is quite longer than the one showed in the movies that are being released now.**

 **Things like monologues, different point of views are going to add more lenght to the story and so I apologise that if in the end I stretch this all up to like fifty chapters or more. I just don't want to skip anything.**

 _ **Also I'm enjoying that it had been recently put the Italian-dub version Fate Heaven Feel 1st movie in Netflix so I can watch it without burning my eyes staring at subtitles.**_


	6. Payback Backfire

**DISCLAIMER**

 **The following is a fan-based**

 **FICTION**

 **F/SN, F/Z, F/KPI and other products related to the Fate Series are all owned by TYPE-MOON, Kinoko Nasu and Takashi Takeuchi.**

 **Please support the official release.**

* * *

 **Chapter 5:** **Payback Backfire**

* * *

When I woke up the morning after the dinner with Illya I was grateful that it was Saturday.

The dinner ended as early one should end but some brief discussion and exchange of information happened after that emotional moment and thus I gained a better understanding of what the fuck was going on.

I blinked my eyes open from my slumber to find Assassin there, materialised, staring at me sleeping.

"..Good morning?"

He seemed surprised, yet the only hint I got from him was a mere flinch. "Good morning, Master."

"Don't you think today is a fine day to raid a Tsundere's unused house, oh Servant of mine?"

Assassin hummed quietly before tilting his head in confusion.

"We are going to raid the old Tohsaka mansion!"

..."Why?"

"Well, first we might find important stuff that might aid us in our grand fight aaaand! We irk that bratty Tsundere even more!"

"Isn't this strategy of aggravating the Master of Archer going to hinder us in the long run?"

I scoffed. "Rin Tohsaka works best when not under pressure. Thus getting her all angry and bothered up will damage her and put her in a vulnerable spot for other Masters to use against her."

"By other Masters you mean... Illyasviel?" I grinned and nodded at the Servant's deduction.

"While I got from Illya-chan the promise to just pummel Shirou a bit without killing him, I think it would be unfair for two teens to gang up on her."

"She is an adult and she has Berserker, Master." I smugly smiled at his sassy attempt, knowing now how to counter such flimsy try to steal my title as Sassy King of Fuyuki.

"That is why we are in an alliance with her, Assassin. She is smarter than me and her Servant can go Hulk on your butt."

As expected Assassin took the verbal beating without complaint, aiming his masked stare to the floor as I silently singed victoriously.

Curiously enough the walk to reach the abandoned house was uneventful and I was actually surprised at the lack of familiar faces in the path.

Shrugging at my good luck, I smiled as I vaulted over one of the open windows and started to look at the level of destruction that had made the house one of the most haunted places in town.

"Sheesh, whoever did this sure was pissed." I moved towards the entrance and my eyes catched a particular damaged painting potraying a family of four.

The faces of the two adults were scratched down and only the children were visible-

I walked closer to the suspicious piece of art. "Did Rin have a younger sister?"

I tilted my head as I looked much more deeply into the picture and... somehow felt like I saw that place somewhere around but... nah! Maybe I just watched some movie and saw an actress that looked like her.

I shrugged as I walked up the stairs, my intention trying to find Papa Tohsaka's room.

Assassin's spiritual form hanged closely, using the corners to add more to his concealing as I walked deeper in the decaying building.

As I walked for the hallway that led on the right section of the mansion, I felt something falling on the ground loudly, followed by a muffled swear.

I blinked, Assassin preparing his weapons out as I went to open the closed door where I heard the noise.

I opened it, I stared and sighed. "Hello Shin-chan."

The Matou teen paused his attempt to get up alone, his head turning slowly towards me and, as soon as he noticed me, he paled and yelped in fear.

"Y-You! What are you doing here, Gaijin!"

"You know, stealing useful stuff and irking a mutual aquaintance." I stepped closer to the weakling. "What are **you** doing here, Shin-chan?"

...He blinked. "Stealing useful stuff and... try to conquer a mutual aquaintance?"

 **He is touched in the head, Master?**

I sighed at Assassin's question. _It would answer a lot of things but I fear there is more than just him falling multiple time headfirst on the ground as a baby._

Something moved near me, a box was pushed and I felt pressure approaching my body when-

*Clank!*

Assassin's knife blocked the enemy Servant's blades and, with a push, she was pushed back and away from me.

"That was a close call! Thanks man!"

The hooded man nodded as my eyes fell on the woman and...

"How are you actually seeing stuff with a blindfold?"

...

"What?"

"I mean, shouldn't you be 'blind' because of the blindfold? Yet you seem to 'see' somehow!"

"Years of practice and I like not seeing the faces of those who fall to my wrath." The light-violet woman replied as she readied herself to pounce back in action.

"Kinky and dangerous." A glare from Assassin made me frown as I turned to the unimpressed Servant. "What? Can't I flirt with a hottie?"

The woman blushed but her composure barely changed at my words as she continued to await orders to fight.

"So, why are you fighting for Shin-chan? I know he is not your Master." She paused and looked at the silent Matou seeking advice.

"S-She is my Servant, you idiot! I am a Magu-" "Shinji, you have no Command Spells in your hand."

Shinji stopped, looked on the floor and frowned. "You saw?"

"Yep." The 'p' was accentuated by my unimpressed voice as I stared down on the little bully.

"He needs to live." I snapped my head at the female Servant with a confused look.

"Is Sakura your Master?" She seemed pensive for a moment, considering if revealing that bit of information was worth the 'wrath' of the seething brat on the floor.

"Yes." I sighed in relief at the answer. "Good, she isn't going to miss him then."

"What do you mean, I am-" "Explain, young man."

The voice of the woman beat Shinji in the words game and I was delighted I was literally getting a chance to humiliate the bastard after so much verbal annoyance during classes.

"She did tell me that she loved Shirou and I know Shin-chan here surely has bragged about beating the red-haired moron, thus if Shin-chan lives Sakura suffers even more than if he dies."

She relaxed her guard a bit and I noticed Assassin glancing my way in genuine surprise as I masterfully demolished my enemy by sheer words.

I mean, it wasn't truly a great feat to beat someone like Shinji with words.

Bullies are scared of this kind of confrontations and the Matou was certainly going to discover why soon.

In fact the blindfolded Servant nodded at my thinking. "I have only a request."

I blinked and frowned. "Which is?"

"Make him die slowly.. he did more than abuse my Master."

My confusion melted as I noticed the scowl in her face and it was in that very moment that a serious error of judgement flashed in my mind.

Sakura hadn't tripped Shinji for repressed anger coming out in a small fit, she was actually buying herself time to get away from getting ra-!

I grimaced and turned to glance at the pale bastard, a sick need to destroy the monster slowly taking over in my mind.

"I will be more than happy to do so. Shinji, your hour is nigh!"

The teen tried to frantically get up but Assassin moved quickly and seized him with a rope.

"R-RidahhH!" Shinji's screams soon turned muffled by a ball gag blocking his voice as I gave one last glance at the female Servant.

"So you are Rider. Nice to meet you, gorgeous."

She blushed but nodded at me. "I heard many things about you from Sakura, interesting things."

"Hopefully nothing terrible." I smiled as the woman turned around, a small snort still reached my ears as she jumped out of the windows and disappeared with her impressive speed.

I turned on my victi- _playmate_ and took a small towel that was on the ground together with a bottle of water from my backpack.

"Okay Shinji, you have hurted someone nice and harmless and so you will enjoy the Guantanamo Treatment."

Tears flooded incessantly from the Matou as I removed the gag, yells briefly trying to call for help but were quickly silenced by the towel now in his face and the water hitting his face and almost choking him.

"You sick bastard, I bet that is why Mitsuzuri never hang out around you anymore. A tomboy but at least she is honest in being a dummy once in a while."

The torture resumed and soon minutes turned hours and Shinji's lifeless body hit the ground, a bullet ending his final, pained moments.

"I sure do feel... like I went overboard." Assassin's hand grabbed at my shoulder and he squeezed calmly and I turned to look at him.

"The boy was a terrible monster, Sean. If he lived he would have done worse things to others."

"Yet I felt like I did exaggerate." The man sighed as he ruffled my hair.

"You might have but that is why you are not a bad person." Assassin continued calmly. "You know that you need to limit yourself against your foes for there is a moral code you are up to uphold."

"Yeah. Baddies get kicked in the butts and only shitty assholes get castrated."

He nodded and I felt slightly better at having killed the little shit.

Maybe Assassin was right, this thoughts make him more human.

* * *

 **AN**

 **Next chapter will see a continuation of the raid and someone else's point of view.**

 **I know what you might feel about the treatment of Shinji, I literally kicked the bastard to death, but I have some deep hatred for rapists of this kind.**

 **Shinji might have been a teenager in Fate Stay Night but he warranted his death from merely doing the heinous things he did to Sakura. I don't want to add other pellets to my reasoning as it is quite a delicate subject but I think in the VN version of HF Shinji did say that he planned to do 'things' to Rin.**

 **That said I can pass on the...**

 **Review Q &A!**

 **Takamishin** **: Yes and no. This is** _ **part**_ **of the reason behind Gilgamesh's plans and it will not be something easy to find out without actually reading the part when I reveal it. Thank you for your theory as you cracked half the case!**

 **Matze96** **: I will try but with the current schedule I might not be able to return to quickfiring chapters until I end one of the four fics I'm writing. Also thank you!**


	7. Sassy Raider

**DISCLAIMER**

 **The following is a fan-based**

 **FICTION**

 **F/SN, F/Z, F/KPI and other products related to the Fate Series are all owned by TYPE-MOON, Kinoko Nasu and Takashi Takeuchi.**

 **Please support the official release.**

* * *

 **Chapter 6: Sassy Raider  
**

* * *

I wasn't expecting to find out that Rin still lived in those ruins by finding her panties in one of the more conserved room.

It was also kind of worrying how most of her clothes were every shade of red as it tended to show how much bloodthirsty that tsundere was.

I gave one last glance at the cursed piece of underwear as I planned some way to cause more damage to the Tohsaka's shaky pride but I continued with my endeavour of finding some useful books or maybe something to blackmail the twin-tailed brat into lending some kind donation to the 'Help the jobless one' charity I've created after losing my workplace because of this war.

Most of the remaining rooms were either locked or smashed beyond recognition by previous disasters.

My hopes started to simmer down at this disappointing walk, yet I found one last chance to get something out of this little raid in the attic of the mansion.

Being the tallest, Assassin helped up by pulling the wooden stairs down, opening the path to the highest floor of the house.

Darkness reigned in this part of the old house and I started to look around for anything truly useful and-

*Knock*

I stopped, the noise quite close where I was and I asked a question to Assassin regarding the 'Wizarding World'.

 _A-Are ghosts real?_

 **While those might have been a thing many centuries ago, Master, there are no ghosts.**

That closed down some unpleasant dread forming in my stomach but I still had to find out what had-

*Thump*

I snapped around, my eyes landing to the prime suspects, or the least dusty chest in the whole house and, bracing up for whatever might be hidden there, opened it and-

...

I picked the curious stick that resembled like some crappy magical girl's object of mass destruction.

I had to admit, I had never preached Rin as someone that loved this kind of stuff and I proceeded to throw it away and-

...My hands still closed around the weird magical stick remained stuck there, unable to release it from its hold.

"A-Assassin! This thing is glued to my hand, help me!"

The Servant approached but, as he did so, the stick _yawned_ and looked around, then turned it's star-like centre to _look_ at me.

...

" **You are not Rin-chan.** "

Finally my hand released the talking stick, my face twisted in shock as it _floated_ closely, inspecting me and nodding.

" **But you will do!** "

It was so quick and I didn't even understood what happened as the stick _headbutted_ me and made a small cut on my left cheek, taking some of the blood.

"Master!"

The stick outmanouvered the Servant, dodging the knife's strike as it- _she_ giggled cheerfully.

" **Yatta! I got a new Master!** "

"What the fu-!"

My voice died down as a red-purple light covered my whole body and... WHY I COULDN'T FEEL MY CLOTHES ANYMORE.

As the light bathed me, I felt every piece of clothing twist and change and I felt very windy in my legs.

Soon the light ceased, restoring the shadows and showing the results of whatever that lightshow was.

Assassin was bent over, barely restrained chuckles reaching my ears as I felt my face flushing in red at what I could see there.

I was wearing a skirt. A very, _very_ short one and-

"WHY DID YOU PUT PANTIES ON ME?!"

To say that I was feeling my manliness dying to a worrying speed was an understandment!

" **Ouchie! I admit this is quite a** _ **wrong**_ **sight to see, Master. Give me some time and your measurements and I shall fix it all!** "

"ABSOLUTELY NOT!" I exclaimed, my self-restraint threw out of the window as I let rage rule my actions. "YOU BETTER BE RETURNING ME TO NORMAL, YOU WIZARD-STICK!"

Soon a soft light covered my body, minus my head, as my clothes were back to normal.

The stick yanked itself out of my grasp and flew to one of the corner of the room, bended a little and.. _sobbed_?

I blinked at the scene as I stepped cautiously towards the animated object and I felt even worse at the fact its- _her voice_ felt so much realistic and genuine.

Seriously, why am I getting this much shit with this War?

"L-Look, I'm sorry if I snapped at you, lil' stick, but I don't like being touched and all... so, I'm sorry?"

The sobbing ceased and the magical object turned around, sniffing twice.

" **I-I'm sorry for being such a klutz, Master, but i-it's been so long since I've seen people and-** " "Wait, did that Tsundere put you there to rot, lil' stick?"

At her nod, I scowled loudly. "That bratty girl, always doing crappy things left and right. Tell you what, lil' stick, I will give you a chance to take revenge in a sweet way."

The stick turned fully and _tilted_ a little. " **H-How so, Master? A-Also my name is Ruby.** "

"Well, Rubes," The stick almost jumped at the nickname. "I found where Rin's underwear is and I am running low on money so, do you want to join my capitalistic attack?"

Ruby looked pensive, whispering something that was barely hearable, then she nodded energically. " **Okay, Master!** "

I nodded as the stick reduced itself and attached itself on my backpack. "Impressive."

" **Tee-hee!** " The sentient object enjoyed the compliment as I decided I found enough from this little escapade and it was high time to make a call.

Hopefully someone that wasn't Shirou Emiya would pick up.

* * *

Sakura was very uncertain how to react to the newest intruder to the Emiya household.

Rin-senpai looked quite gloomy as she lazed in the kotatsu, muttering something about 'idiots' and 'morons'.

When the Matou had first met Saber, she had been quite sure that the blonde wasn't interested in Shirou and the same was for the young man.

What truly surprised her was that a similar approach had happened with Rin-senpai.

The plum-haired girl was pleased by this discoveries as in the end her love target was not going to be snatched by no one, giving her more than enough time to work up a better relationship with her Senpai!

Sakura had just finished cleaning her hand after preparing lunch as Shirou was busy tending on a 'sick' Saber in her room when the phone rang and she was the one who picked it up.

"Hello?" Her eyes widened in surprise at the familiar voice, a small smile in her face. "Oh Sean-senpai, it's good to hear about you."

At her words, sapphires turned towards her, a deadly glare directed at the phone in her hands.

"Yes, I am thankful that you helped out **cleaning the trash, Grandfather was actually delighted to hear this**."

Rider had told her how she had left her silly, big brother to die an ugly death and that she had even avoided getting into any battles in the process.

"Oh, is that so?" Sakura put the phone near her chest as she looked at her sis- _senpai_.

"Rin-senpai, Sean-senpai just told me that he gave you the greatest excuse to skip school forever. He says to check out Channel 8."

The twin-tailed girl frowned at those words, while Sakura tried to hold back some giggles at the part she had hold secret from her former sibling.

The TV turned on and the girl changed to the mentioned channel which was talking about.. a new underwear sale near Homurahara.

 **Fine Tohsaka's clothes! Big Sales!**

In that stand there was a crowd of students, mostly boys but also some girls, eyeing her own panties.

"I'm gonna kill him. Tell him that as I am going to storm his house and-"

"W-Wait Rin-senpai, he says there is more." The furious girl paused, waiting for the message to be relayed.

"Sean-senpai says that... he has some blackmail in the form of photos of you.. Senpai, what is a 'cosplay'?"

As Rin paled a deadly white, her eyes wide open in fear and shock, Sakura felt pleased in the scene unfolding.

After all the Matou actually knew what cosplay meant and she was quite surprised to hear her senpai was such a bold girl... She couldn't even think this with a straight face.

* * *

"I'm seriously impressed that the Janitor was so easy to bribe, I would have expected he would have wanted money, not just a pair of panties." I mused as I counted the money gained in the sale.

" **Oh Master, you don't know how powerful are girl's clothes. I think you could buy the world with enough panties.** "

"That sounds like the perfect Plan B if things turn wrong in this War." I snickered as I found this little joke quite true as funny.

I opened the door of my house and walked to the living room, readying myself for some new actions in the war when I saw someone sitting in the couch.

"Graham-san." I blinked as I stared as Souichirou Kuzuki stood up from his seat and silently waited for me to settle. "We have much to talk about, mostly regarding a proposal of alliance."

I blinked at those words and shrugged. "Sure."

Calmly sitting in the chair in front of the couch, I let the teacher continue.

"My Servant, Caster, finds your services quite essential in our objective to stop Berserker."

"As if beating the scary Servant to avoid any 'unfair' fights kind of objective, correct?" He nodded and a small, devious plan started to form in my mind.

"I would like to continue the discussion but I've decided against putting myself in jeopardy, thus we would like to continue this negotiations in Ryuudou Temple, tomorrow morning. I bid you a good day, young man."

I nodded and I saw the gaunt man disappear in the hallway as I realised I had forgotten to ask something.

How did he exactly enter my house while I was away?

* * *

 **AN**

 **Even through I'm the Author of this story and I kinda wrote that part, I kind of feel sorry for having put my poor OC in that fugly situation.**

 **No straight man should be forced to wear panties, nor magical girl's clothes.**

 **So Ruby is now contracted with Sean and next Chapter will see some 'aggressive negotiations' that would make Obi-wan Kenobi proud.**

 **Plus... A wild Taiga is going to appear next chapter!**


	8. Betraying the Witch of Betrayal

**DISCLAIMER**

 **The following is a fan-based**

 **FICTION**

 **F/SN, F/Z, F/KPI and other products related to the Fate Series are all owned by TYPE-MOON, Kinoko Nasu and Takashi Takeuchi.**

 **Please support the official release.**

* * *

 **Chapter 7:** **Betraying the Witch of Betrayal**

* * *

I was... very tired.

The reason why I felt next to collapse? Quite secret at the moment, something regarding the War and the next future.

Nothing much, I know, but it's a pleasant surprise for later..

The Ryuudou Temple would have usually been filled with people working around with outstanding determination and faith, yet now it looked quite dreadful to look at as I noticed the lack of the hive-like movements of the monks.

 **We have entered the Boundary Fields, Master.**

I nodded at Assassin, understanding the worried touch in his tone as I knew very well that while the plan would have worked smoothly, the same couldn't be said for the aftermath.

My eyes darted at the distant figure that was Kuzuki, waiting for our arrival and possibly here to act as a close-quarter fighter.

I was quite impressed at the certifications regarding the teacher.. or lack thereof as it seems that the gaunt man was not listed prior to two years ago.

His posture, his lack of emotions, I didn't even need Assassin's deductions to understand that the man had some shady past.

I sighed as I walked the long distance, under the annoying sun, and I let a yawn as soreness was still gripping at my poor mind.

"Good morning, Graham. I see that you have had a tiring day yesterday."

I nodded with a small smile and a sleepy expression. "Been studying for school, teach."

The man nodded yet I didn't miss the curious glint in his eyes, the suspicion of being betrayed and I didn't blame him.

I was going to **destroy Caster and her Master**.

The door was opened by the man and we were led inside into a circularroom with several tables and components of various kind.

I glanced at the single individual there, a woman with her hood lowered revealing long, light-blue hair and pointy ears.

She turned towards us and smiled regally. "Sean Graham and his Servant."

"Caster." I replied quietly as I tried so much to not get flirty with her.

For some reason her eyes had softened when she noticed her Master and I knew that flirting meant death in that exact moment.

"Souichirou had explained to you the reason behind this meeting."

"Killing Berserker and bullying the other Masters, yes." I yawned again, an hand covering my mouth as I did.

She blinked at my lacking reaction but nodded. "That is the initial purpose." She turned around and looked at her works. "With enough time and with a proper analysis of the Grail I might be able to crack the system and grants all of us what we wish for."

...That sounded quite familiar and I sighed, an unimpressed expression in my face.

The Servant looked confused, possibly my tired mood. "You seem quite disappointed, young Graham."

"That's because I am disappointed, Caster." I replied, true sass starting to take over as the plan was commencing. "You have made a mistake in your little ambush."

Tension roused as Caster's eyes went wide at the accusation and I could feel the teacher's guarding up.

"A curious insinuation, foolish boy. I had hoped I would be talking with someone as mature as Souichirou had spoken about and-" "Yeah, Yeah. Look, I understand the acting to avoid getting caught pants down but- If I had been in a better mood I would have made some jokes like 'Did you ever hear of the legend of Darth Plagueis the wise?' and maybe mocked you with your lacking knowledge of movies." I pulled out a flip phone from my pocket and hovered a finger over one of the buttons.

The woman was confused by my small rant but I merely decided to reveal the plot twist.

"You see, Caster, there are two ways to destroy a Boundary Field: the direct way, rain hell on the barrier, or the indirect way, damaging the source of the energy. It is common knowledge for all Servants that there are three Leylines in the city where to gain a massive and almost unlimited battery for a barrier. You used the Temple's leylines and I decided to make it go boom."

"W-What?" The Servant seemed quite bored by my quick explanation, only the final bit hitting home. "But that would require an impossible amount of-" "Assassin here has a deposit in the city filled with weapons and explosive. We got a fuckton of C4s and I am going to light up some fireworks."

...

"What do you want?" I blinked and smiled as the message seemed to reach home.

"I would like lots of things but I want to ask you, what can you give up in exchange of your life and the one of your Master? Nothing sexual-related, I'm above that kind of shit."

She contemplated the predicament, trying to find something she could banter their lives with, when she seemed to realise something, her smile returning, this time feral.

"You are quite good with your bluff, Graham, but you made a small mistake in your ploy."

"Which is?" I looked confused as she made a step towards me.

"I would have felt if someone had approached the leylines." She made another step, her hand materialising a weird knife. "You never went there."

The knife approached swiftly towards me, a victorious grin in her face- *Schwing*

She blinked, her detached hand flying away as Assassin cut it off, yet she seemed uncaring of the damage.

"Foolish boy, your end is here-!" Lucidity hit her the very moment her knife, now in my hands, pierced her chest.

A shocked look as she had all but forgotten how unforgiving her own Noble Phantasm was.

The teacher rushed to intervene and stop us but my Servant aimed his submachine-gun and loaded some bullets in his body, killing the former killer.

"T-The Witch of Betrayal- outsmarted by a brat." She spat blood as her figure descended slowly on the floor. "I'm truly pathetic."

..."What are you talking about?"

"You have w-won, Master of Assassin. You have beaten me and-" "Can you explain what the fuck are you talking about?!"

She blinked, a bit surprised by the outburt and I couldn't be more than understanding.

I was close to collapse and fall asleep so my rationality was kind of in the screwed side of the force.

"Without Souichirou, I'm going to die. I need a Master and-" "Ok, do you want a contract or do you wish to stand still and die slowly?"

"A-Are you serious? You just killed Souichirou and-" "If what you said about the Grail is true, then you can as well wish him back, kinda like Dragon Ball."

She obviously missed the reference but seemed to actually consider the proposal.

"You will not abuse nor hurt me, yes?" I nodded. "I wasn't joking when I said I'm above this kind of stuff."

She glanced at Assassin and relaxed when the fellow Servant nodded.

"F-Fine. T-Take my hand."

I did so and blue-light started to cover part of our arms and soon, the woman pulled herself off the ground.

"So... it seems like you are my Master and-" "Good, stuff is resolved and I can go back home and catch some sleep."

I didn't even looked at her expression to know I once more stunned with my cranky mood.

I wobbled my way back at home, both Servants returning to their spirit form and I ignored the muffled voice of Caster, my mind aiming only at one thing, my own bed.

I was halfway to open the door of my home when an hand grasped my arm and stopped me.

I turned around and was greeted with the worried look of one of the worst people I could have encountered in that very moment.

Taiga Fujimura had perfectly ignored his demands of staying away from his house and had noticed the strains in my face.

Good thing I was close to fucking to get some dang sleep out of this.

* * *

"I knew it!" Illya giggled as she stared from her crystal ball.

She had seen Sean getting the invitation for the petty alliance against her Berserker yet the Einzbern had been quite certain of the teen's friendship and she ignored Sella's warning like usual.

Plus the whole plan was funny and entertaining, mostly because of the amazing shock he had caused to the silly Caster that had tried to attack her in her castle.

Illya was actually very conflicted in how acting now that Sean was close to collapse in his doorstep, especially with the loud woman that was Taiga Fujimura.

Few hours ago she had decided to poke some more on her Oniichan and she was surprised that her Grandfather had lied about him.

He was so oblivious to anything and his capacity to magecraft was awful at best.

Her mind returned to Sean Graham and she started to think what to do about him.

He was her friend, that was now a fact, and he was super nice.

Plus she loved how caring he had been when she had been weak, remembering of her papa.

She blushed, finding him somehow kind of attractive too.

Illya sighed, her head softly settling in the table, eyelids closing slowly.

After so many things happening that day, maybe she could get some early sleep and dream more about her wish.

No more bound to the Grail and to live her life freely in an human body with people that cared about her.

It was curious to see Sean smile so fondly in that beautiful vision yet she shrugged at reality as she embraced the dream version of her newest friend, a small smile in her face.

* * *

 **AN**

 **I hope everyone knows that the Finale will expand after the Canon Route end and I will make some distinct changes that I think everyone will like.**

 **First thing first: No, Caster is not paired with Sean. I respect the canon ship of herXSouichiru.**

 **The reason why the bluff wasn't the real thing was because Kiritsugu had used his entire reserve of C4s to attempt the Grail War from ever happening, ending up speeding the recharge fourty years earlier than the usual.**

 **Next chapter will be about feels, 'cause I will be quite merciless regarding Taiga and I hope you will all understand why I get her called out in some situations.**

 **Review Q &A!**

 **Matze96** **: More like a Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact. The true Unholy Alliance is coming soon and is going to be a short-lived one.**


	9. Unexpected Lecture

**DISCLAIMER**

 **The following is a fan-based**

 **FICTION**

 **F/SN, F/Z, F/KPI and other products related to the Fate Series are all owned by TYPE-MOON, Kinoko Nasu and Takashi Takeuchi.**

 **Please support the official release.**

* * *

 **Chapter 8:** **Unexpected Lecture**

* * *

I was very tired, like **really tired**.

Sitting in the couch, Assassin and Caster sandwiching me, I stared at the English teacher in utter sleepiness and boredom.

"You shouldn't fall in this category of people, Graham-kun. You will get pulled in terrible circles and fall in addictions."

 _Sure and you actually drinked apple juice when you go to your rendevouz by the pub._

"Also you skipped your punishment in every single occasion and I cannot let this stand, thus I decided I shall try again to get your custody and put you away from this house."

...

"Taiga, are you trying to _mock me?_ "

That very tone that I used when my patient was scrapping the end of the barrel seemed to surprise the woman and I was sure in a roll.

The last time she had tried that stunt I had been forced to accomodate a strict inspector and follow his stern rules to the very end of the duration of the examination.

In the end, Taiga's attempt was defeated soundly by the re-opening of my parents' last wills that were adamant and specific on my freedom of living where I wished.

I wasn't in the mood to let that bullshit happen again, especially with this goddamn War still ongoing.

I wasn't going to back down, nor I was going to restrain myself!

"You are trying to tell me you, a woman in her twenties, single, know drunkard and also lacking when doing chores and cooking, would take care of me as I grow up to adulthood?"

I scoffed, my mind drowing in loathful memories of the past. "Even I know that Shirou learned to cook and clean because _no one of his guardians were able to_. You aren't certainly the worst guardian but you seem quite fine by going to pubs and drinking the sadness away when every dates of yours dump you one way or another."

I felt Assassin flinch at my words, while Caster seemed to enjoy the one-sided exchange in silence and perfectly away from it.

"I bet you don't know that Sakura was abused or that there is this massive secret War going around that is killing people." The Servants almost jumped in surprise as I revealed this bit about the shit going around that explained the murder spree in Fuyuki, yet I wasn't finished with my rant.

"You know, Raiga-san has called multiple times to hear about you. He told me how you either don't answer the phone or you are so much drunk when you do that any possible conversation is nigh impossible."

I sat up and walked to the silent woman as I finished with one last blow.

"And do you know why he didn't ask Shirou? Because **Emiya doesn't care about you. You are a parasite and an annoying leech, Taiga Fujimura-** uh?"

My mind snapped out of my sleep-induced rant and I realised to my utter shock what I had just said in those few minutes.

My eyes stared wide open at the teacher, tears flowing from her face as she stared at the floor, a blank expression in her visage.

I have done the most absurd and morbid thing I could ever imagine.

I broke the Tiger of Fuyuki in this empty state.

 _What have I done?!_

"T-Taiga, I-I-I didn't mean to-!" I tried to grasp her shoulder but my shivering ended up messing my attempt to get a hold of the woman, pushing her softly as her body calmly fell fully on the couch.

"A-A-A blanket!" Assassin blasted from his seat and returned swiftly with a blue one, I settled it to cover the woman as my brain scrambled in defusing this hellish scenario.

"C-Caster, guard her, try to cure her and inform me if she wakes up and-" I started to walk towards my room, my first Servant following closely, concerned on my distraught state. "D-Don't you dare hurt h-her. I-I will use one of the Command spells and send you to hell with your lover to stay forever!"

The hooded woman paled at the panicky-furious tone but nodded as she started to study the teacher to see what she could do to help her.

I had to sleep! I was doing too much damage by being so much tired!

Almost tripping on the stairs, I managed keeping myself standing thanks to the close wall, which I used as a crutch until I found my way in my room.

"Master, I think-" "N-No. I cannot nothing now but rest. I-I am not thinking straight."

With those words, I settled in my bed, trying to catch some sleep while trying to keep that very image that had been burned in my soul.

 _What have I done..._

I whimpered as I continued to search for some peace, finding none and staying awake and in emotional pain.

Assassin stared the shaking form and grimaced, knowing he had left a mess with his death.

* * *

Kirei Kotomine smiled as his familiar returned from his spying duty to relay quite the exquisite scene to him.

To say that the priest was proud would be an understatement.

Graham-kun had been so masterful in causing so much pain to the annoying woman without even going physical.

What a majestic sight to be bestowed, one that pleased him to no end.

The King of Heroes was currently missing from the Church, possibly trying to entertain himself before he could finally intervene in the War or maybe to spy himself the same Saber that had catched his attention during the previous war, leaving the former Enforcer to plan more amusing acts.

He needed to create a spark similar to the one that had forced Kiritsugu Emiya to fight against him, to _agree to his wish_ , but with a curious twist in the approach.

Sure Shirou Emiya was related to the young Einzbern but his relationship with her was shaky, something quite the opposite for the Master of Assassin.

Kirei sighed, losing himself to when he was chosen as a Master and when he had summoned an Assassin too.

It was funny how fate had presented him the opportunity to make the past happens once more but quite differently from the previous predicament.

Graham-kun was more impulsive when his precious people were hurt, thus making him so much attuned to the former Magus Killer, while Emiya-kun was quite devoted to his 'ideals', making him somewhat detached from human feelings.

He will need to use Lancer in this ploy, to get the Einzbern and her attack dog in the open and use Rin's brash personality to spark another fight.

Then urge Graham-kun to protect young Illya from a more serious threat in the form of that alliance.

Yes, the priest will finally get the answer he had dreamed to get ever since the end of the Fourth Grail War.

Will ideals prevail over selfishness or fall soundly before it?

* * *

The Matou Mansion was quite desolate.

Zouken grimaced at the fact Sakura was dodging her 'training' by using the War as an excuse, yet his disappointment was diluted in the morbid curiousity he had regarding this new Master.

At first sight, the Worm would have defined the average human a simple boy with no potential...

He had been proved wrong in the first two days in the conflict, when the teen had managed to not only befriend the Master of Berserker but also killing his foolish grandson without having to fight with Rider.

The Servant was smart, Zolgen had seen it first thing during the summoning, and he had been quite convinced that giving Shinji full control of her would have doomed his plan so quickly.

The old Matou also appreciated the fact he wouldn't have to deal with the jealous, little brat that had annoyed him for so long.

The fact that the Graham had dethroned Caster from her fortress in a quick skirmish was also something that increased the worth of the teen.

Maybe if Sakura could get near him and kidnap him, the boy could turn into something quite useful.

Either a puppet, a new host or maybe... another heir?

His Circuits should be able to hold the 'training' and his mind could be broken and rebuilt from scratch.

There was also his little Dark Grail that needed just some more time to start its path in the city to gather enough prana.

By the end of the day, Zolgen Makiri will stand victorious and above the Tohsakas and the Einzberns, attaining true immortality and power over the world!

* * *

 **AN**

 **I know that someone might starts calling this a 'Taiga bashing' chapter, but I think that, if I have to go blunt honest in every situation, I cannot just skip this character's behavior.**

 **Taiga is... a nice character but she is trash in taking care of people.**

 **I mean, she** _ **should**_ **have noticed that something was wrong with Shinji and Sakura, yet there was no hint whatsoever that she knew stuff.**

 **Sure maybe she had a mind-wipe in an theoretical search for clues by either Zouken or Kirei, but I still thinks she was ignorant of the abuse and... that feels much more worse.**

 **As a teacher, Taiga should have noticed something wrong regarding her students and maybe acted upon it, yet nothing.**

 **In the end, I still love the character. She represent the comic relief in the story and also give some insight regarding Kiritsugu to those who have not seen Fate/Zero. Plus Taiga Dojo.**

 **P.S. Can I get some more feedback this time? I would appreciate if someone pointed out if I did some mistakes so I could fix them. I will not condone flames, tho.**

 **Review Q &A!**

 **GoTeam** **: It would be a nice pairing, wouldn't it?**

 **merendinoemiliano** **: Thank you!**

 **Ravenm** **: Thank you!**


	10. Lucid Nightmare

**DISCLAIMER**

 **The following is a fan-based**

 **FICTION**

 **F/SN, F/Z, F/KPI and other products related to the Fate Series are all owned by TYPE-MOON, Kinoko Nasu and Takashi Takeuchi.**

 **Please support the official release.**

* * *

 **Chapter 9:** **Lucid Nightmare**

* * *

I don't know where I was yet I couldn't stop running..

The molding walls of the building were starting to get unnerving as I turned another corner with similar appearance as the one before it.

Left, right, straight and then right again as I tried to get out of the gloomy maze that was becoming a true madhouse for me.

I turned around the corner once more, this time I felt tripping on something.

Or better, something _tripped_ me as I tried to evade the monstrosity behind me.

 **You failed again~** It giggled, its feminine tone familiar but not enough to pinpoint whom it might be.

 **Always falling, you dummy~**

The curious red-black tendril released its hold from my leg and I took this as an opportunity to rekindle the chase and maybe leave this place.

 **YOU CANNOT LEAVE ME!**

The ground collapsed on my feet and I stared in meek shock as I fell in the dark abyss that covered the building.

Yet the true mistake was turning to look down at my impending doom.

 **Silly Sean, you know that** _ **if you stare into the abyss long enough..**_

It glowed red as several blades rushed towards me and I couldn't help but enjoy my last few minutes, an unfamiliar smile in my face.

 **...** _ **the abyss stares back at you!**_

 _Sean Graham ceased to exist as blackened swords, lances, spears and axes shredded his body to small bits._

* * *

I snapped my eyes open, the ceiling of my room the first thing on my sight.

Labored breaths and sweat starting to uncomfortably soak in my clothes, I got up from my bed and started to calm down.

"Master?" The voice of Assassin brought reality back fully as I slowly turned around, my pained expression still in my face. "Is everything alright?"

"J-Just a LSD version of Freddy Krueger's kinky nightmares. I- Give me few seconds and-"

"She is awake and-" That reminded me what had pushed me to force myself to sleep and I rushed out of the room, ran down the stairs and paused.

*Crash*

I blinked once, then twice and finally thrice.

*Crash*

Before my own eyes was Taiga Fujimura, trying to wash some plates in some mechanical pattern and... *Crash* failing on it epicly.

From quick estimations, I could count ten fallen to the woman's new insanity.

I turned to stare at Caster, the elf-like woman seemingly as confused as I was and so I decided to cut the chase to the source.

I walked closer to the unresponsive woman and hummed quietly.

...

*Crash*

"Taiga."

She paused for a brief moment, then she returned to fail the dish-washing work.

*Crash*

I sighed and walked even closer, picking the plate that she was trying to pick.

She froze, her eyes catching my hand, and she muttered just a single word.

"Sorry."

Once again I blinked at this insane predicament but sighed, my mind more than ready to deal with this kind of shit.

"If you truly want to do this, then follow my instructions." For some reason, I felt like she was trying to prove something thus I let her try.

Still, I wasn't going to let her decimate my plates in whatever she wanted to show here.

I gave some basic advices and she seemed to truly understand those as the plates' massacre had been narrowly avoided.

"Taiga, do you know why debts truly are bad?" Her composure flinched briefly but she continued with her job as I decided to make a point and possibly get her out of that creepy state.

"When you accumulate debts because you need money, you initially don't care about them. You have the money to do what you wish for and the expiration date is quite far from that very instant. Then it all come crashing down when you forget in your happiness about those issues."

She finally stopped and looked blankly at the sink.

"You have lived away from the responsibilities of being a responsible adult for so long that you were quite _scared_ of even thinking about the complexities of dealing with them all and I think I even know why are you doing this."

My hand quickly seized her arm, stopping her from returning to dish-washing.

"It's already clean." She blinked, seemingly realising her mistake. "And this is not how you deal with depression."

I turned to Caster, Assassin and... "Ruby?"

" **Master! You forgot about me!** "

I flinched. "Kind of had to go rambo in some places."

Caster scoffed, her arms crossed below her chest.

"We are going to meet with someone you might like, Rubes, wanna come with us?"

" **Really? Is she cute?** " I blinked, surprised at how she knew about Illya's gender even through I never told her about the girl.

"Yeah?"

She giggled and launched herself in my backpack. " **Private Rubes ready for duty, Sir!** "

"I-I-Is that a talking stick?"

Oh, I almost forgot about Taiga.

"Do you remember about me talking about some crazy War in the background?"

She nodded slowly as she continued to stare at Ruby, the magical stick returning the stare?

"Well, I will explain this to you while we go."

"Go where?" She frowned, confused by my secretiveness.

"Let's just say that it has to do with Kiritsugu." The teacher's eyes seemed to light up in recognition of the name and she nodded.

Caster and Assassin phased in their spirit form, causing the woman to frown once more at the insane sight.

* * *

"So there is this competition between seven people and their 'Servants' and the winner gets to make a wish come true?"

I nodded at the crude summary the young woman relayed. "Servants are generally heroes."

"Generally?" She blinked, remembering the tall masked man. "Like mister hoodie?"

I paused for a moment, we were just few minutes from leaving the forest and reach the Castle and I needed some little rest for my poor legs. "You mean Assassin? Yeah, I would deem him an 'Anti-Hero'."

"What is an Anti-Hero, Master?" I blinked at the question asked by the mentioned Servant, now in his material body.

"It's a category for super-beings that comes from comics. They generally share some lines with heroes but are more than happy to resort to brutal and ruthless approaches to save innocents. I think that's why Deadpool is my favourite comic Anti-Hero."

Assassin nodded, seemingly archiving the new information away to research further.

"Wait, why are we even there?" Taiga's behavior was slowly reverting back to her cheerful self and that was both good and bad news for my poor brain.

We finally reached the castle and- the door opened to reveal a smiling Illya.

"Sean, you are back!" She giggled, rushing for an hug and I patted her head as she managed to embrace me. "You brought Caster and.. who are you?"

Taiga blinked, crouched slightly so she could stare at those rubies and she smiled.

"My name is Taiga Fujimura. Who are you, little cutie?"

Illya frowned and tilted her head to give me a confused look and I nodded.

"Taiga, do you remember when Kiritsugu went on business travels before he got too much sick?"

The teacher nodded, still not understanding well the connection.

"Well, his business travels were actually him trying to bring her back to Fuyuki. Her name is Illyasviel von Einzbern and she is Kerry's biological daughter and you are going to help her to adapt with school subjects."

...

 **"EHHHHHHHHHH?!"**

* * *

"So you are just six years my junior?"

Illya nodded, quite embarassed in the situation she had been put in.

First Sean with his preposterous proposal, then this woman that knew her papa.

The Lesser Grail sighed, breath in and out, in and out.

She was going to work this through without further embarassing moments-

" **Kyah! You are so cute!** "

-And a flying stick was talking to her.

"Sean, why do you want me to have a migraine?" The teen smiled so much I almost groaned at how annoying he seemed.

"Let's just say that migraines are as essential as errors in life. You need some to learn about things and-"

"I might as well ignore this and kick you out of the castle."

Illya frowned inwardly as she heard a faint but distinctive, excited exclamation from Sella.

What was the quirky maid doing to cause such quiet uproar?!

Red eyes glowed sadly as the Einzbern had not planned to see Sean so depressed so quickly.

"Unless!" She continued loudly, noticing the teen's head perking. "You let me call you, Sean-kun!"

He frowned confused while I noticed Assassin starting to cough in the background, yet he smiled.

"Sure, Illya-chan."

Illya smiled at this small success of hers. "Then we have a deal, Sean-kun."

A victorious step closer to her dream and another towards the future past the Grail.

If she learned about more about the world, she could as well have no problem trying to court the Master of Assassin.

Yes, she can do it! For her and her fate!

* * *

 **AN**

 **Before someone starts a witch hunt, Illya in Fate/Stay Night is 21 years old. The proof is in the 1st Heaven Feel movie, where Shirou is stated to be in his second year of highschool (16) and, knowing that the Great Fire had happened a decade+ earlier and that Illya was ten thanks to Fate/Zero, her age is 21.**

 **Review Q &A!**

 **EstarossaTheBasilisk** **: Thank you!**

 **merendinoemiliano** **: Thank you!**


	11. Dual Ambush

**DISCLAIMER**

 **The following is a fan-based**

 **FICTION**

 **F/SN, F/Z, F/KPI and other products related to the Fate Series are all owned by TYPE-MOON, Kinoko Nasu and Takashi Takeuchi.**

 **Please support the official release.**

* * *

 **Chapter 9:** **Dual Ambush**

* * *

There were many things that Illyasviel von Einzbern hated in her life.

Cold was the worst thing in her opinion after having grown in a castle where snow fell constantly everyday.

Yet now that she could enjoy the moon light and get some moment of peace after the curious 'lesson' she had with Taiga Fujimura, she was starting to develop a distinct hatred for cocky Servants dressed in blue full spandex.

"Missed again, young lady. It seems your Berserker is truly slow."

She scowled and the roar from her Servant showed that he too wanted to end the grinning pest without hesitation.

Herakle smashed a rock where the Lancer once stood and then an entire tree.

The maddening chase was intensified by the Berserker's own Mad Enchantement and the bloodthirst started to appear taking more and more control of the demi-god.

Meanwhile Cu Chulainn felt like this mission was a suicidal one.

Sure, he couldn't refuse a good fight but he knew that there was some difference between him and the behemoth that was chasing him in the woods.

Gae Bolg, his trusty spear, deflected a close strike from the monster and some panic started to rise as the sword cleaved cleanly another rock.

Maybe he should have killed himself the moment the priest had killed Bazett, it would have saved him the trouble of dealing with the psychotic Kotomine and that blasted goldie.

Silent prayers of finally catch up with the other party of the ambush were answered when his eyes caught sight of a familiar blonde.

"Seems like we have company, young lady." The cheek he had behind his words didn't mess with Illya's cold rage which was redirected to... Oniichan and the Tohsaka?

She blinked, two swords flying past several tree's branches and towards her.

Berserker stopped giving chase, perceiving the fear in his Master's heart and turning quick enough for his thick, steel-like skin to repeal the chinese falchions.

"Berserker and his Master?!"

Shirou seemed quite surprised, while the Tohsaka felt like she had won the lottery.

Illya's eyes finally noticed a fourth individual, a man dressed in a red and black dress, tanned and with white hair.

"Archer?"

The glint in the newest Servant's eyes intensified as he projected a bow and a drill-like sword.

Her Servant would have reached the long-ranged individual but an invisible sword meet with the stone one of Berserker.

Cold resolve flared from the blue eyes of Saber as she started to fight Herakle with higher speed and might.

For some reason, the Einzbern knew the real problem was the Archer, the sword-like projectile glowing in his bow eerily feeling dangerous to even watch.

" **Caladbog I-!** "

An explosion ripped apart the tree were the Servant had settled and Illya recognised the handwork perfectly.

"Sean-kun!" She smiled, the teen returned with one of his briefly as he turned serious while looking at the other two Masters.

"W-we don't need to fight, Sean." Shirou's conflicting mind wasn't shared by his ally, Rin more than eager to maim the upstart jerk.

"Assassin, engage Archer." The hooded Servant materialised and nodded at his order, rushing at high speed at the retreating white-haired man.

"I hope you can deal with Saber, Illya-chan."

The Einzbern nodded, a feral smile replacing her small one as she could have a proper fight with the blonde.

"You are delusional, Graham. I am not someone who will be defeated by a third-grade Ma-" *Thud*"-gus?!"

Shirou fell on the ground, paralysed as the quick-fire Gandr had hit him square in the chest, leaving just the Tohsaka and Sean on the little battlefield.

"You know, try it. Beat me if you truly are that good."

* * *

EMIYA grunted as Kanshou barely held against the strong strike of the Assassin's knife.

The Archer had not expected to fight against a fellow Counter-Guardian in this Holy Grail War and he was utterly panicking by the fact the Support Class seemed much more stronger than him in many stats.

It was an unfair fight that not even the Counter-Force boost would help him with and he knew it.

"You should surrender. I know who you are."

The words felt as if the masked figure was begging him to accept defeat, yet he wasn't that much outmatched to not put a true battle with his opponent.

His confidence was frail and it vanished mere moments as the submachine-gun in the Assassin's hand started to actually _hurt_ him enough to disrupt his Tracing.

A kick pushed all the air in his lungs out and his back landed on a tree, cracking the wood with just the sheer pressure of the impact.

"I will not ask again, surrender now."

Bleeding. He was bleeding from his head.

Pain surged in his chest at the mere thought of getting up from his pool of blood, staring defiantly at the stretched hand, trying to help him.

"You were always this stubborn, Shirou. That is what truly ruined you."

EMIYA blinked as the Assassin removed his hood and his mask, revealing a face he had loathed for so long and he had hoped to kill in one of the many loops.

But now? He was there, defeated by the very man that had made him into what he was.

Kiritsugu stared, a grim expression in his visage. "Master will actually take you in."

"And how do you think he is going to do so? He can't just break magical cont-ract... Caster?"

A phantom of a smile briefly appeared on the older Emiya's face. "Caster."

"I knew that he would have done it." At this the Magus Killer paused, blinking at his son.

"What had happened to the Sean Graham of your timeline?" Silence answered at this pressing question, leaving the Assassin to merely theorised about his Master's fate in the future.

* * *

"So I didn't knew you were into cat-girls, bratty tsundere." I barely dodged the following, slightly stronger curse as the Tohsaka seemed aggravated by my particular accusations.

"That stupid Code is a lying stick!"

"Rubes is actually very sensible you know?" I said as I prepared another overcharged spell at her, throwing it and barely missing the target. "You truly are an heartless witch, Tohsaka."

She snarled, this time throwing some glowing rocks and-oh?

I don't know if it was good luck or because her aim was crappy but the gems landed far enough from where I was and small explosion brought me some insight of what those were.

"You throwing 'nades at me, you moron!?" Her smirk was creepy as she heard my exclamation.

 _Master, I'm ready._

I smiled and started clapping. "Congratulations, Tohsaka. You seem to be better than me."

She scowled. "Empty compliments will get you nowhere, you stupid idi-ot!" Eyes wide open, she stared at the weird knife embed in her extended arm as Caster finally materialised by her side.

"You were right, Master." The female Servant mused loudly enough for me to hear. "She is quite arrogant in her craft. Such a shame to see someone fall so quickly for measle things."

A Gandr hit the surprised Tohsaka and she fell backwards, close enough to the still stunned Emiya.

Assassin appeared, the now contractless Archer waiting... and he wasn't defiant?

I looked at my first Servant and the hooded man shook his head.

 _Why is he so much secretive about himself?!_

A ritual similar to the one I used with Caster was made and Archer now served under my cause.

Still I noticed that the previously small strain was now noticeable and I felt quite drained for a moment.

"I would advise against using other Magecraft, Master. Your Circuits are still recovering from the recent activities and the new drain."

I nodded at her cautious words. "O-Okay."

A giggle catched my attention as I saw Illya approaching with Berserker nearby.

"Just gave her a beating." I blinked at her statement. "Well, she was quite weakened by the fact Oniichan's Circuits were stunned by you."

I nodded slowly as she closed up on the scene, her smile widening as she picked a small permanent marker from one of her pockets.

"Spoils to the victors.." Two minutes later and the duo had left the small forest, leaving Shirou and Rin to deal with the terrible defeat and loss of Archer.

* * *

"As I thought, he astonished me once more." Gilgamesh's words surprised Kirei as he listened Lancer's report of the fight.

"He stole a Servant, putting his body under major strains. He could have killed Fake Archer just like Berserker could have destroyed Saber-" He paused as he felt sweat forming at the murderous stare of the King of Heroes.

"Graham has actually played his card cautiously. He suspects that there is something wrong in this War."

The priest blinked. "So soon? How could he have catched any clues?"

"He is connected to the Grail. I don't know how or when but his mind has grazed the surface of the artifact recently." Those words meant a lot in their predicament.

It would cause Graham-kun to finally deal with them to find answers regarding any malfunctioning in the Grail.

"It's futile, Kotomine. Even I recognise I would be outmatched in a fight like that."

"B-But my liege surely-" Gilgamesh scowled at the submissive and panicking voice of the former Enforcer.

"My Treasury would have to be stretched fully and I don't think Enuma Elish would garner a perfect victory in any situation... let him come."

Kirei's eyes widened in shock at the strongest Servant's decision, thinking it absurd to even dream of.

"Something or _someone_ is trying to use the Grail's corruption, Kotomine, and I would see it as a slight if I let a thief taint further a cup that is mine from the very beginning."

The King of Heroes had perceived enough to understand that the concentrating foul miasma was something beyond his current knowledge.

That was infurianting but also concerning to someone of his posture.

* * *

 **AN**

 **No, this good situation is not going to last. I plan for things to go even worse than in HF canon at a certain point.**


	12. To Tame a Tsundere

**DISCLAIMER**

 **The following is a fan-based**

 **FICTION**

 **F/SN, F/Z, F/KPI and other products related to the Fate Series are all owned by TYPE-MOON, Kinoko Nasu and Takashi Takeuchi.**

 **Please support the official release.**

* * *

 **Chapter 11:** **To Tame a Tsundere**

* * *

"A curious catch, Master. Archer is indeed as mysterious as Assassin."

I nodded in agreement at that honest statement from Caster.

Both Servants shared a similar colour theme and both seemed 'heroes' of the modern age.

"Do you think they are related somehow? Or that maybe one of them took inspiration from the other?"

It had been two days since the last encounter and those had been spent resting and I got to poke my three Servants for more information.

Surprisingly enough it was Caster who had been chattier than the other two, saying that it didn't matter in the end if I knew more about her.

 _"Why?"_ I had asked at her following that explanation and she smiled impishly.

 _"You ignore easily certain bits of someone's past, thus in the end telling you about my legend wouldn't neither improve nor worsen your perception of me."_

So Medea, Princess of Colchis and Witch of Betrayal, was more than happy to describe when she was alive, before the Grail War gig.

I was kind of impressed by her honesty and I kind of felt pity for the betrayal she suffered by the blond jerk that was Jason.

Man, why goldie-locks are always those who cause messes left and right in their path?

Anyway, the woman shrugged at the question. "Their behaviors are quite similar. Perhaps they are father and son."

I blinked as I continued to stare the two from afar, both chatting to each other about God knows what.

"Would it be worth to use one of the Command Spell to get the truth out?"

Caster paused from her tinkering of a special necklace I had asked her to build, giving me a doubtful look.

"It would help with loyalty... but it would also remove you one of the possibilities to use the Spells to either heal or boost them. It's your decision in the end, Master."

Classic Caster, leaving me to deal with difficult choices by advicing much and nothing.

My thoughts regarding the chatty duo were disrupted by the doorbell ringing and making me frown.

By now Taiga was possibly tutoring Illya and Emiya wouldn't venture so far in the pirate's cove.

I groaned as the bell rang once again, deciding to go and see whom it was.

Opening the door, I stared at Rin Tohsaka, an impassive look in her face.

Silence lasted brief moments as she scowled. "Can I enter? I want to talk."

I blinked, contemplating if I should just close the door on her face.. but since I had already humiliated her quite enough, I decided to let her in.

I had three Servants ready to throw hell at her if she tried anything funny.

So here we were, sitting one across the other with a cup of tea as I waited for the Tsundere to explain her visit.

"I-" She sighed, pausing to stare a bit longer at the content of her cup. "I want Archer back."

I blinked but kept a blank expression at the inane request. "Why?"

"I need to win the War." I tilted my head in confusion. "Rin, this is a War, you can't just ask this and- Wait, seriously why are you so desperate to win?"

"B-Beg your pardon?" I sighed and looked at the ceiling.

"You are here, literally begging to get in the War again even through I am sure you aren't allied with Emiya. I mean, it's not like the glares you are throwing at him as of now are quite difficult to notice."

She blushed at being reminded of her new hatred for red-haired teen, both because of his uselessness in two battles and the fact he was the Master of Saber, the class she had wanted to summon.

"Why I should tell you this if you are not going to tell me your wi-" "I want a massive castle with every privileges and no people pestering me for the rest of my life."

...

"That's selfish."

I smiled at the expected comment. "I know and I think that is why the Grail exist. To remove selfishness by granting a wish."

My words seemed to surprise the girl as she frowned at the curious explanation.

"I want to reach the Root and discover the secrets of Magecraft."

..."That's stupid."

"Why you! Your wish is dum-" "You want to know everything? That sounds like a way to make life a living hell in multiple ways."

"I could bring a better future-" "If you are not killed by someone jealous, deranged or maybe because your life turns so dull by knowing everything that you would crave to know what is beyond death."

"That's... dumb." I clapped my end and Rin scowled at my amusement.

"See? It's not that difficult."

"Okay, I want to save Sakura!"

That was... an interesting backup wish.

"Why Sakura? I think there are many people you know you might help."

"She is... it's private but let's just say that I care a lot about her."

Is that so? I was confused by this statement as I clearly remember the Tohsaka _never interacting_ with the plum-haired girl.

"So you know about her suffering." She nodded. "And the fact Shinji had.. _raped_ her."

She almost nodded at that too but froze in shock, eyes wide open at this news.

"W-What. **What?!** " I gestured her to not bash anything in her rage and continued.

"Good news is that Shinji is dead." Rin paused, her sapphires softening but not too much.

"W-Why she never told me about that?" I shrugged at that idiotic question.

"Dunno. Maybe for the same reason she had not told you that she is the Master of Rider."

...

"She is the Master of Rider?"

I facepalmed at the tsundere. "I know so, yes."

Silence fell once again and this time I was the one to break it with a sigh.

"I cannot give you back Archer." I explained at the Tohsaka. "But I will not target you once again."

She blinked in suspicion. "Really?"

"Really." I reply with genuine seriousness. "I have other things to focus on and I have to reduce my pranking duties."

"I think something is wrong with the Grail." Rin frowned in confusion at this statement.

"What do you mean? Kirei said it was everything regular if not for the War to happen so early on- Kirei knows that something is wrong and didn't tell me."

I nodded. "I think the priest and Goldie knows more about this glitches. I wouldn't be against to be accompanied by you if you want-"

"Goldie?"

The Tohsaka seemed to pale a little as I cited Gilgamesh. "D-Does this 'Goldie' have red eyes and-" "He has massive yellow portals that hides swords and other stuff."

"We need to go to the Church." Rin barked, her hands trembling. "H-he is still alive and-"

"Wait, what are you talking about?"

"That 'Goldie. He- He was my father's Servant during the previous War. He should have died the same moment my father died but-"

"He is alive... and living with Kotomine." I nodded and glanced the Servants' direction. "We are so going to storm their lil' fortress now."

The girl paused just a moment from all the seriousness to give me a deadpanned look. "Don't you dare-"

" **To conquer the Holy Grail, Master!** **Deus Vult!** "

Rin held the scream in her mouth, yet her reaction to Ruby's unannounced invitation seemed to be quite visible and extremely entertaining.

The stick settled in my backpack as we left from the entrance of the house, a pleased smile adorning my face.

"Indeed, Rubes! Deus Vult!"

* * *

 _Senpai is so... sad._

Sakura sighed as she finished her chores, returning to stare at Shirou as he slumped over the kotatsu, his face showing sadness new to her.

It was confusing and disheartening to see someone like the kind red-haired teen appear so much self-disappointed.

Sure, she had already seen the Emiya saddened but never this kind of depression.

Saber, being the loyal Servant, was close to her Senpai, silently trying to comfort her Master but failing as the teen sighed, staring the table without moving at all.

If she hadn't know that the Servant was more than happy to keep a merely formal relationship with Shirou, Sakura didn't know what she would have done herself in that maddening scenario.

But that wasn't the issue, her Senpai was visibly in pain after losing his alliance with Tohsaka and that made his glaring weaknesses as Magus glow even more.

 _If only I could return the shine in my Senpai.._

A familiar giggles sent her shivers to her mind as she prayed for a solution to the great disaster in front of her.

 **Maybe you can help, little one, it's simple. Think, who is causing Senpai this kind of sadness?**

Her voice, so seductive and attractive, coaxing her to reveal her secrets..

 _Well, I think Tohsaka-senpai and Sean-senpai might have be at fault but-_

 **Then focus! What do you think would make Senpai happy?**

 _I-I think that he would like if T-Tohsaka-senpai returned back, maybe even bring Sean-senpai with her. I-I think Senpai would be the happiest if he too joined our little group._

 **Then we will make sure Sean-** _ **senpai**_ **and Tohsaka understand our plea by** _ **pushing them in the right way!**_

 _Y-Yes, I-_ _ **I can see it! We could maim Sean-senpai just enough to make him feel weak and Rin will have no choice but drag him to her 'friends'!  
**_

 **Good! Then we should for a walk and see if we can** _ **catch up**_ **with those two** _ **dummies!**_

Sakura smiled and silently left the Emiya household, never noticing that her eyes weren't the usual purple but a glowing red.

Rider followed closely and silently her Master, frowning at her weird behavior yet not inclined to intervene as of yet.

Maybe it was just some stress of the War washing on the sweet girl or maybe it was her renewed freedom now that Shinji had been killed.

Medusa prayed that nothing foul was going on and hoped that whatever the plum-haired girl had planned wasn't going to put her in harm's way.

* * *

 **AN**

 _ **"If anything can go wrong, it will"**_ **\- Quote from the Murphy's law.**

 **I know I should have published a chapter of Heroine Diamond-chan!, but I got sidetracked by finishing studying for the Exam of tomorrow morning and kinda felt too much tired to write.**

 **This chapter was written prior to today and I didn't want to left today without posting anything.**

 **Lastly yes, first steps to Dark Sakura is now a go.**

 **Review Q &A**

 **merendinoemiliano** **: Thank you!**


	13. Fear Itself!

**DISCLAIMER**

 **The following is a fan-based**

 **FICTION**

 **F/SN, F/Z, F/KPI and other products related to the Fate Series are all owned by TYPE-MOON, Kinoko Nasu and Takashi Takeuchi.**

 **Please support the official release.**

* * *

 **Chapter 12:** **Fear Itself**

* * *

I wasn't sure how to consider what was going on.

I had just finished chasing a semi-rabid tsundere back to the Church, Kotomine seemingly expecting our visit as he was waiting outside of the building patiently, a blank expression in his face, and a familiar goldie hanged by the roof of the holy structure with an uncaring tone in his visage.

"Gilly, I have been told you are accounted for a crime regarding murder." My jolly voice brought a confused glint in those red eyes, yet the Servant blinked silently at my words.

"I meant recently, as if a decade ago." That seemed to give the realisation that the blond was trying to find.

"That is quite curious, mongrel. The only curs I've fought that much time ago were Servants, not humans."

Tilting my head, I slowly turned to stare at the remaining suspect and I grimaced at the smile quietly creeping in the priest's face. "So it was the priest all along!"

Rin intercepted whatever excuse or monologue Kirei had prepared with a shrill shriek of fury. "You killed my father... **How dare you even speak of him, you monster!** "

A laugh surprised the angry girl and it soon grew hysterical as the tall man had to put an hand to his face trying to get the _joy_ tears from his face.

"You truly are an amazing comedian, Rin." Something moved in the bushes on our left side and I was the only one smart enough to jump forward as a man with a tight, full-body suit emerged from his hiding spot and pushed the Tohsaka on the ground, red spear ready to kill her in that very instant.

I was... surprised and Assassin materialised, ready to repeal the new Servant.

"I presume this is Lancer." I mused loudly, glancing briefly at the mad glint in the priest's eyes. "You are a Master too..."

"That is correct-" "So you are a cheater."

Kirei blinked at the accusation and confusion dripped from his voice. "Beg your pardon?"

"You literally are the Gamekeeper of this weird D&D game and you also are a player? That is some blatant rule-breaking."

He laughed. "That is true, Graham-kun. But you forgot that this isn't some petty table game." The priest shook his head. "No, this is a War and wars are won by deception."

"I blame myself for buying you an Art of War book for your birthday."

"Alas I think we have some other issue to deal with. I think you have further questions before I end the _last_ heir of the Tohsaka Clan."

I hummed quietly, stealing some glances at the panicking girl as she tried to attach to the floor and away from the scary, red lance of super-death.

Asking quickly about 'how they were still alive and all' could have turned the predicament in a very ugly scenario even through I had three Servants.

So I decided to quence my curiousity regarding the painting I found at Rin's old mansion.

"Does Rin have a sister?"

Silence fell soundly on the courtyard as Rin's eyes seemed to bulge at the unexpected question.

She would have barked 'no' or protested with some excuse, yet the pointy stick aimed for a clean path to her heart seemed to scramble her need to protect secrets.

"Surprising you know about this, Graham-kun, but yes. Rin had a younger sister, one that, in my opinion as a youth, had much more potential than this petulant child."

The jab was quite visible and Rin's mind reeled at the attack to her ego, yet that curious expression in her face told me that there was much more.

"What happened to her?" The man chuckled and shook his head.

"You see, Graham-kun, most Magus families have issues regarding their younglings. Magecraft cannot be divulged so freely to everyone as the amount of energy available to use and manipulate is extremely limited, thus the children that are born after the Heir to one clan are either banished or sold to other families."

The Tohsaka squirmed from her place, words failing to leave her mouth as tears flooded through her eyes.

"Rin's sister was given to another family. I think you should known whom I am referring to."

I struggled to identify whoever this girl might be now. The city might not be Tokyo-level big, but it wasn't even that much little to remember every single teen.

My ears catched something approaching, a sound faint to understand but I was far too focused on milking the priest more information from his depravated mind.

"I am no social butterfly, Kotomine. Spare me the mind games because I've some annoying homework back home that will require my mind to be migraine-free."

He scoffed. "I had expected at least an attempt, even a joke." Then he smiled as turned his eyes to the former Master of Archer. "She is quite taken by Shirou Emiya-" "Mitsuzuri?"

..."No."

"Saber?"

"That Emiya's Servant." The priest groaned, quite annoyed by this spectacle of dumb.

"...R-rin?"

"Oh my god!" The Tohsaka exclaimed in anger as she was finding this whole thing as distressing as infuriating. "It's Sakura. Sakura is my sister!"

...

"I barely see any resemblance with-"

"Her hair and eye color were changed with an adoption ritual-"

"I meant physically." I blurted out, stunning in silence the prideful tsundere. "She is literally a 9/10 while you are a 7/10 if I have to be merciful."

"Why you!"

Kirei laughed and clapped at the scene. "Truly a magnificient individual, Graham-kun. Only you are capable of bringing madness up to the right notch-" "Silence."

The priest's eyes went wide open as he turned to Gilgamesh in confusion.

Red eyes were staring intensily at something quite behind.. me?

I turned around and I felt my jaws hit the floor as the worst nightmare I could ever had manifested itself.

A masked figure with tentacles.

 _A masked figure with tentacles that can do *Beep* and the stick *bleep* in my *bleep*!_

"Oh hell no!"

The creature seemed to find my refusal as an agreement to whatever perverted plan it as its tendrils made a quick assault directed _straight at me!_

"No means no! Stay away from me!"

 **Master?!**

 _ **Caster, I think Master is thinking about those weird things he had saved in his computer-**_

 _Archer, you traitor! Just a day in and already screwing the Bro Code, ruining my image and- OH MY GOD THOSE ARE SHARP!_

Assassin's knife deflected one of the offending tentacles, barely redirecting it away from my chest and nicking my shoulder. "Fuck, it hurts!"

The monster seemed to purr as it pulled the blood-stained tendril close and making disappear inside its.. curtain? Whatever that crap was, I was utterly terrified by that being of sick pleasures and lust.

" **Master! That creature seeks to violate your innocence!** "

"I knew that already, Rubes, I need some easy and simple solutions to this fugly problem." My mind produced what required and I barked some orders to end the foul monster.

 _Caster, prepare to blast the crap out of that fiend! Archer, get out and guard my ass!_

The two Servants materialised and I was preparing some role for Assassin when-

...

"Archer?" The white-haired man blinked at the call and seemed nervous.

"Yes Master?"

I sighed, prayed for God, dreamed of sheeps as I yelled my loudiest yell ever. "STOP GROPING MY ASS!"

The offending hand released me and I finished with a sentence delivered with a broken tone. "Why this is happening..."

"I think it's Karma, idiot." I launched the most hate-filled glare I could throw at the smug-looking Rin as I tried to compose my mind back.

" **Machia Hecatia Graea.** "

My depression wavered as I stared in awe at the show of lights and lasers obliterating the creature without mercy.

"That was so cool, Caster!" The woman cracked a strained smile at the praise, yet her eyes widened as the creature reappeared undamaged by the heavy energy barrage.

I stared at the approaching fiend with a panicky expression. "S-Shit! SHIT!"

Ready to yell once again, this time in fear, several swords and other blades rushed at the creature, piercing through its dark cage.

"What a disgusting stain. Damaging what is mine to decide what to do! Your punishment is death!"

At those words more weapons rushed at the creature, pushing it several steps back.

In the end, seeing the overwhelming disadvantage it had, the monster started to move away from the no-man land created by the highly destructive attacks.

Silence settled once more as no one gave chase to the retreating figure, leaving me to deal with the aftermath.

"C-Can we do this another day? While I find the whole 'Final battle' gig funny, I don't think I am in the mood to deal with it."

"Now that you say this, Graham-kun.. I think you are right, I am quite tired." The priest nodded and turned to Lancer. "Release the brat."

The Servant stared in utter shock but complied with just a simple protest. "You promised me a battle, _Master_ -"

"Look, Lancer-san." I intervened as I felt my tired self taking over. "While I understand you are a battle-happy dude, I think you would want to fight an enemy in their best shape. Correct?"

The man nodded quietly. "Then go whine elsewhere as we are all tired and you are the one who did jack-shit of what had happened there."

"Hey, I-" "Be quiet, mongrel. Graham is correct."

"Oh? Is it Graham now?"

"Spare me the annoyance, Graham-mongrel-" 'Drat!' "I find myself in need of some refreshment after dealing with such disgusting being. Go and grovel in your bed as you will fight me and I will have this fight."

I nodded and started to walk away from the Church. "Ditto, Gilly. Ditto."

Rin stared back and forth as she tried to understand what had just happened and the Servants retreated back in their spirit mode.

"W-What about-" "Don't know, don't care. After what had just happened I need a _cold shower_ and sleep my nightmares away."

Plus I had to understand what to do with those new information regarding Sakura and this new monster lurking around the city.

I shivers to think what horrible deed the creature was committing in that very moment.

* * *

"S-Senpai, i-it's not necessary to-" "Please Sakura, you have a fever and you also stumbled on the front door. You need to rest now."

Sakura Matou was quite bitter that her original plan had been foiled by the unexpected reinforcement helping her targets and sure she felt the need to truly destroy that gold-haired fool that had hurted her _so much_.

The girl sighed as she removed her shirt so that her red-faced Senpai could use the towel to help her with the sweat.

Inwardly she was giggling at this lucky predicament as now her Senpai was taking care of her in a very intimate way.

"S-Senpai, y-you missed a spot h-here." She moved her arms to point a spot in her back while giving a quick peek for the boy to see.

The now burning blush that Shirou was sporting showed that he had indeed seen her modesty.

Another giggle, another pleasant sensation at his cautious touch as he had to hold her shoulders to help himself in the work.

Maybe she should send a fruit-basket to Sean-senpai and Tohsaka-senpai for having left her in that amusing situation to deal.

In the shadows of the household, Rider stared to her Master quietly, blushing at the sight of her beauty.

It was confusing how such a gorgeous girl had been lied about her appearance.

Calling Sakura ugly felt more like a high crime to commit, especially since her beauty was matched by her kindness.

Such a sweet girl.

Medusa let a muffled moan as one of her hand held her mouth covered as she continued to gaze at her precious Master.

After all, she was just an ugly monster and she knew the truth about true beauty.

* * *

 **AN**

 **Man, sure I went near M-Rated here.**

 **Sean is scarred for life, Rin is confused by her life, Sakura is happy with her loss and Rider is...** _ **yeah!**_

 **Review Q &A!**

 **EstarossaTheBasilisk** **: That's a se-cret~! But I can tell you that it is not Sakura nor Rin.**

 **KombaiHound** **: Her Yandereness was hidden by her lack of voice as the Shadow. But yeah, in the end she got something she had long craved to experience.**

 **merendinoemiliano** **: Thank you!**

 **PasiveNox** **: Thank you for your support!**


	14. Lullaby of the Lamb

**DISCLAIMER**

 **The following is a fan-based**

 **FICTION**

 **F/SN, F/Z, F/KPI and other products related to the Fate Series are all owned by TYPE-MOON, Kinoko Nasu and Takashi Takeuchi.**

 **Please support the official release.**

* * *

 **Chapter 13:** **Lullaby of the Lamb**

* * *

I had another nightmare.

This time I managed to see part of my aggressor's face, _her smile_ as she innocently tore through my skin and meticulously destroyed my bones in the darkness.

 **You will never leave. We are linked~**

Those words sow dread in my poor soul the mere remembrance of them.

I was once again incredibly cranky and I groaned as my head fell on the table during breakfast.

Thank God I had removed the plate I had used to eat my morning waffles or I would have had to go back and clean my face.. **again**.

Yawning some 'Good mornings' to my Servants I was ready to enjoy an entire day doing the very thing I loved and craved to do when feeling unwell!

And that is... nothing.

By nothing, I meant 'Nada, nope, lazying around and other things that required me being at home doing the opposite of hard work'.

I settled in my couch, some sheets covering my entire body as I prepared myself to enjoy a full morning nap that _should_ last until lunch.

Sighing in relief, I closed my eyes and started to imagine good things-

* **Peck***

...As I was saying imagining good things-

 ***Peck* *Peck***

My eyes snapped open as I turned my stare at what was causing this noise.

I noticed something by the window nearby and my sight revealed... a bird?

That was new and I was going to call BS if the War was turning in some Disney thingy when I looked closer to the small critter and realised it was no bird.

Well, it had some resemblance to a bird if it was made by glowy, skeleton-like skin.

I blinked and I noticed the small rolled paper in its beak and, opening the window, slowly extended my hand towards the unnatural small thing.

"Bite me and I _will bite you_."

The bird-thing didn't react to my warning, merely moving its beak close to my open palm and released the letter on it.

I didn't waste time and I opened the paper to find- _What is this?_

What were supposed to be Kanji were written in a very wobbly style, almost impossible to decipher.

Thankfully I had been no better in my first years at school and thus I was quite the expert in reading this hideous calligraphy.

 **Sean-kun,**

 **I send you this invite to lunch at the Einzbern Mansion.**

 **Taiga-san has taught me how to write in Kanji ( I hope it is not too much bad) and I wanted to ask your judgement of my current level of understanding.**

At this there were several kanjis scratched or outright blanked out with ink, yet the lowest bit and signature survived the merciless attack.

 **Your friend, Illya.**

...I was kinda getting bored staying there doing nothing.

I grunted as I picked myself up from the couch and walked up to one of the stools with my jackets, picking one and readying myself to leave.

"Master, are we going out?"

I almost jumped in fright at Assassin's unexpected presence and subsequent question.

"I-I am just going to have lunch with a friend. I will be back quickly."

The Servant stared at me for several moments, then he sighed. "Fine. Remember to use your Command Spells to call us in case you need us."

I nodded and smiled. "See you in the afternoon, Da-Assassin."

My legs never ran so much quickly, my mind never bashed my poor tired brain so ruthlessly.

I paused two minutes later, already in the path to the woods to pick up what had just happened before I left.

Why did I almost called him _dad_?!

Sure, Assassin had started to train me with his work's tool (aka guns and knives) and he had also been quite supportive when I killed Shinji...

...It was the sleep. There was no other reason for it, yes.

Yet as I continued my walk to the Castle, I felt the gnawing sensation I was wrong about something.

I shrugged the feeling away, focusing on the main event of the day.

I mean, another lunch at Illya's was going to be a blast like usual and I failed to see how it would end badly-

* * *

I jinxed myself.

My hands were trying to hopelessly massage the temple of my head as I groaned at whom Illya had also decided to invite.

Shirou Emiya was grinning and it was hurting my innocent soul beyond the reasoning of humanity.

I sent a quick glare to the smiling little minx by my side and her smile widened even more as she seemed to have taken... revenge.

Seriously Illya, Taiga _couldn't have been that bad- Wait yes, she might have been especially since she was a little, cute thing._

"C'mon Sean-kun, Oniichan is not _that bad_."

The Master of Saber flinched briefly at the last adjective but seemed to endure it as he continued to _stare_.

"So, Sean, do you think-" "I was planning to add a jacuzzi and a massive TV in my living room."

The Emiya frowned. "I meant-" "No, I am atheist and will not switch to any religion."

A giggle interrupted my roll as Illya catched our attention. "I think Sean-kun doesn't want to speak with you, Oniichan." I felt my arm catched by her two small ones. "He loves me more!"

...Whaaaaat?

Shirou recoiled from the jab, a slighly infuriated smile in his face. "Sean is just confused and-" "And I'm hungry, what has your hard-working maid prepared for us mortals?"

The maids entered the room that very moment and I grinned even more as I noticed the blush on Sella's face... and the pout on Leysritt's?

The reserved maid slowly walked around the table and bowed, her hands forward with a small box.

I blinked but complied with the silent request and opened it to reveal...

My eyes widened in surprise as I eyed the small, transparent bag containing several delicious-looking cookies.

I turned to the close-eyed maid and I tilted my head in confusion. How should I reply to that kind of generosity?

I smiled as my hand hovered above the box and settled on Leysritt's head.

Her eyes snapped open in rare surprise as I patted her. "Thank you."

She blushed and bowed twice before making a quick walk back to the confused Sella.

"A-Anyway, today we have decided to serve a proper meal to Illyasviel-sama-" I felt Illya's small hand grasping mine and squeezing it softly. "-And for Sean-sama."

...

The squeeze seemed to increase as a red-faced little Einzbern was stunned to silence by this unexpected title.

How was I coping with this new tidbit?

Well, my mind reassured me that there had to be a much more simple reason for why I was called now with that honorific-

"Sean. Young master."

...I was shocked yet my face was stuck into blankness as I tried to understand what was going on.

As I went to ask the most important question, I felt a sharp pain on my head almost making me collapse on my seat.

I had expected no one to see that small scene... I was stormed by everyone.

"Young master." "Sean-sama." "Sean." "Sean-kun."

They all rushed to me and I was ready to reassure them that I was fine when another fiery stab of pain finally took the toll on my poor brain and I fainted on the spot.

 ** _Boo! You suck!_**

* * *

I woke up in sweat and labored breaths, trying to understand what had just happened, how this pain had forced me in-

*Pat*

I blinked as my thoughts died and my eyes looked into two worried rubies.

"You truly are a dummy, Sean-kun."

I was at the Einzbern Castle, that I remember and I was alone with Illya in that room.

Her hand pushed my head back in the pillow, comforting warmth from her starting to soothe down the painful migraine.

"Assassin broke the window the very moment you fell unconscious but he calmed down as we got you there."

"W-Where-" "My room." She replied calmly as she took a small wet towel and put in on my head. "You got a serious fever... and your Servant told me of your nightmares."

"I-It's nothing." Her concerned look did calm the growing dread as she dropped something I was truly not expecting.

"I had those nightmares too... of the shadow lady."

I blinked in panic and was ready to hyperventilate once more when her hands grasped mine.

"You are fine, Sean-kun." **You are not.** "You are safe." **You will never be.** "I am here."

The dark voice didn't rebuke this last part and I smiled.

"Why are you avoiding killing Servants?"

My smile froze as I realised where this discussion was going to end.

"It was better to get them alive, better ways to deal with the opposition-"

"The only opposition now is Saber, Rider and Lancer. We literally represent more than half the entire competition and I think you know what I am asking you to tell me."

I wanted to lie. "Please." I seriously wanted to lie and be a jerk, to become the scapegoat to my little attempt... yet I failed in my resolve.

"I cannot let you go." She blinked and grimaced at those words.

"I told you that my body will not live too much after this War. I am not human-" " _Don't!_ Don't... dont' you dare lying."

"And what I am supposed to do, Sean? Make some hopes to actually live after this whole cheap show? To dream of having an happy ending?"

...

"Yes."

She scoffed. "You are a romantic idealist, Sean, but we both know that ideas alone cannot win the world-" "Then I am truly a romantic idealist, a dumb one to boot, as I fail to surrender my dream."

A small smile glowed in her face as I grinned widely and determinately.

"Truly dumb you are." She sighed and squeezed my hand again. "But you are my dummy, aren't you?"

 _In that very moment, Sean Graham's wish changed and became even more selfish than the original one._

 _ **To defy death? What a tragic foolishness**_ _.._

* * *

 **AN**

 **For those who wish to cry a little and find determination along the path, go and search in YT the Illya's Sacrifice MV.**

 **That was what mostly kickstarted most of the fanfic.**

 _ **Are you crying?**_

 **Shuddup! Im not cryi-BWaaaaaaaaaaahaaaaaahaaaaah!**

 **Review Q &A**

 **merendinoemiliano** **: Thank you and good luck with your exams!**


	15. Zenith of Peace

**DISCLAIMER**

 **The following is a fan-based**

 **FICTION**

 **F/SN, F/Z, F/KPI and other products related to the Fate Series are all owned by TYPE-MOON, Kinoko Nasu and Takashi Takeuchi.**

 **Please support the official release.**

* * *

 **Chapter 14:** **Zenith of Peace**

* * *

I seriously was regretting accepting Illya's offer to stay the entire day at the castle.

The reason? The maids bickering right in front of me.

"Graham-san is not in need of another pillow, Leysritt."

"His head. Aches. Pillow are. Required." The stricter of the two sighed tiredly at the persistent companion and turned around, walking out of the room. "Just ask him, Leysritt. If he require assistance he will tell us."

Silence fell briefly and the remaining maid turned her attention to me, an hint of sadness evident in her blank visage.

"I... I think another pillow would be nice." She nodded, her expression partly softening as she picked another pillow and carefully put it under my head.

"Leysritt, can I ask you something?"

The young woman blinked, then nodded and I sighed. "Why is that you have that stutter-thing?"

"Full voice implementation. Not required." She replied calmly, her unfocused eyes staring at the floor. "My mission. Close to finish."

"Mission? Like you have been 'programmed' to do a particular action to motivate your existance?"

She nodded and I groaned, facepalming at the increasing deal of dumb issues.

"Can it be changed?"

She paused, looking quite pensive on the argument then nodded slowly.

"Only voice. Not Mission." She stated curtly, causing me to frown at the latter part of her request. "Lady Illya. Requires me."

"Understood. I will see if Caster can help you with your voice."

At hearing the promise, the maid _smiled_ and nodded. "Thank you."

I returned it with a small grin. "You are welcome."

The door of the room were opened as Illya walked in with a grimace. "One of the Servants had died. Lancer has perished few hours ago."

That was... curious. "There is a but-" "I should have taken his essence because of my nature as Lesser Grail... yet nothing had come, just the sensation of his death."

Nevermind my previous statement, what the fuck that meant?!

"You mean that something or someone is literally taking your role in the War?"

"It would seems so." The young Einzbern mused loudly, then turned her head to the maid. "Leys, can you go and help Sella with setting the divination room?"

The servant nodded, leaving just the two Masters to talk privately about this development.

"I think it's a person." Illya added calmly, taking notice of my curious glance. "The complex role of Lesser Grail can be performed only by an Homunculi or a heavily-modified human."

"So it is someone that is trying to manipulate the Grail, but..." I paused, a small theory starting to kick loudly in my brain. "It has to be one of the other Masters and the suspects are.. only the priest?"

"Kotomine might be worthy of planning such dangerous scheme, but he is far too much craven. I think we are missing someone else who might be using this opportunity to win the war without fighting."

Rin and Shirou were excluded from the list.

Emiya was too much airheaded and basic to know how to do this difficult plan, Tohsaka might be the one planning but this couldn't be possible for her sheer inability to keep her schemes a secret.

An unknown element? Assassin has said something about previous intromission from other Magi in the past wars, was that the case?

"Is it possible that there is a third, unknown party in the War? Someone from Clock.. towel?"

"'Clocktower' and no, the priest would have taken advantage of the situation to cause some bloodshed. Yet it might be a freelancer." She nodded to herself walking back and forth with a confused expression. "But how could I missed someone that much dangerous?"

"I..." My eyes felt tired. "I.. don't know." I turned to look at Illya's red eyes. "I think I will take a nap now."

The girl paused from her thinking, giving a partly-hidden worried look before nodding. "U-understood. Have a good rest."

I sighed and nodded at her, letting my eyelids close shut and my mind drift away from reality.

* * *

 **"I knew I shouldn't have trusted you! Even this time shit is going to hit the fan and you fail to see the signs!"**

I blinked as I found myself as the target of a shady figure's rant. Why was I in some crappy, familiar shed? And why was this dumbass ranting like a bitch?

My questioning mind couldn't elaborate further as the young man turned to stare at me, shivering in anger.

 **"You utter retard! That is what you are, especially since you think this War has any rules!"**

..Couldn't he just chill a second?!

"Look, fuckface-san. Can you stop with the whole shitting insults left and right, you dumbfuck ?"

A loud, feral growl erupted from the unknown teen as it approached my.. body?

I felt incredibly ethereal, akin to a spirit.

 _Yay, I became a spooky ass Ghost._

The figure paused and _smiled_ at my unaware expression.

 **"As I have stated before."** He took a breath then released it all in a single shriek. **"RETARD!"**

I spitted right in his face at the uncalled yell and I prepared myself for a fight.

"Fuck you too, you shithead!" A punch from the mysterious being was enough to spark my body back in action.

His face felt soft to my knuckles as they smashed onto it. "Suffer!"

 **"Eat a dick!"**

An uppercup finished waking my arms as I took a mad swing at the bastard.

"Choke with a fat one!"

He dodged the hit and countered with a kick in my chest.

 **"Useless moron!"**

Taking the brunt of the attack with a grunt, I returned the favour kicking his head.

"Insane fag!"

We both landed a right punch onto our faces, breaking away mere moments later in a tired daze.

My face was painfully swelling at the beating I just took and the other guy didn't seem to fare better as he recoiled on the floor.

"L-Look. C-Can't you just tell me what the fuck is going on?!"

 **"I- You know what? I-I will tell you some things, nothing more or less."**

"Good!"

 **"Dandy!"**

"So, who the hell are you?"

He groaned and I blinked. **"Angra Mainyu, God of Evil and shit like that."**

"Oh." I exclaimed in fake recognition. "Why are you here, Magnum-san?"

 **"Mainyu, you stupid dumbass! And... I don't know exactly."**

"For a God of Evil.." I started sassily, my mind failing to truly get hold of any possible information regarding this 'Deity'. "You sure do seem to be lacking in... everything a Evil God should be."

 **"As if you are better, human garbage. I wouldn't lose that much time by mingling with that little doll and maybe,** _ **just maybe**_ **, destroy early on what cause the end of the entire world."**

"You mean the Mayans?"

The figure facepalmed. **"That fricking shadow! It is the cause of Lancer's death and... I think what put me there of all places?!"**

His last words were confused and I took that emotion to reply. "First thing, fuck you. Second thing, what are you talking about 'you think'?"

 **"I cannot understand how I ended up there, how I got jailed to you, you stupid piece of shit."**

I frowned at the words but way too much taken by the intensity of the insults.

"Ahr Ahr, I sure want to kick you out of my _property._ Leave my brain-lawn, shitstain!"

 **"How about you just leave my domain.. NOW!"**

A powerful gust sent me flying far and into... the bed I was using at the castle.

I blinked calmly, sweat pouring from my forehead as I tried to calm down from the incredibly dream I just experienced.

My frantic expression fell on the sleeping Einzbern by my legs, seemingly having waited for me to wake up and I felt like a shit to leave the girl alone again.

With a sigh, I patted her head once and the girl's head moved closer to my hand seeking its warmth.

I stared at the giant window with a silent, grim face as I remembered that vivid dream.

A warning had been issued by the fiend that had the balls to try and get a battle out of me and what worried me the worst of those hidden words was... I felt he was _telling the truth the whole time._

* * *

Assassin walked calmly as he continued for the familiar path in the woods, Archer and Caster following closely.

"So Master had fallen unconscious without a reason? That sounds odd."

"He is just a kid." The Servant of the Bow reasoned lazily. "He could have add a lack of sugars and thus fainted."

"I checked to see Master's conditions to see if he was fine to leave." Medea blinked, giving a foul glare at the tanned Servant. "He _was_ fine."

Kiritsugu ignored the two as his senses were focused on the small energy pattern hiding near the bound fields of the castle.

Pragmatic as he was, the Magus Killer estimated it to be a low-level Servant but... he also felt something familiar about it.

His eyes finally catched the cloaked figure, a black mantel covering his body while a white mask covered its face.

Someone had summoned another Assassin and whoever it was they were already targetting Sean.

He turned to _Shirou,_ catching the Bow Specialist's attention. "There sure are some interesting figure in the night."

Archer paused briefly, his eyes catching the figure hanging atop one of the trees and, silently, summoned his bow in his hands.

The second Assassin seemed to have understood what was going on but... it was too late.

The blade-projectile pierced one of its leg before the masked individual could retreat from that place.

Caster gasped as she stared at the arrow and where it was going, chiding herself for having not seen that figure in the distance.

"Someone is cheating on a big scale." Kiritsugu thought aloud. "Someone that knows the secrets of the Grail."

Only one person fitted the requirements to that role and the Emiya hoped that _it wasn't the case_.

* * *

 **AN**

 **The end of the fun part is approaching, rage and dark humor going to take over fully from now on.**

 **Also give some big question about a particular Avenger jailed inside our protagonist and... the answer might and possibly will cause some confusion at first.**

 **The explanation will be given next chapter.**

 **P.S. Could appreciate some feedback!**

 **Review Q &A!**

 **merendinoemiliano** **: Thank you!**

 **PasiveNox** **: Thank you!**


	16. Seriously this is worse than a D&D game!

**DISCLAIMER**

 **The following is a fan-based**

 **FICTION**

 **F/SN, F/Z, F/KPI and other products related to the Fate Series are all owned by TYPE-MOON, Kinoko Nasu and Takashi Takeuchi.**

 **Please support the official release.**

* * *

 **Chapter 15:** **Seriously this is worse than a D &D game!**

* * *

"There is... another Assassin?" I tried to make sense with the quick report of my first Servant, failing to grasp how the rules were... actually cheatable?

"Summoning another Servant from the same class is possible but via specific conditions that no one but the founder families know.. I remember Grandfather saying something about the Edelfelt being the only average family capable of overruling the specific limit thanks to their particular Crest."

"So the only possible suspect is... that old man?"

"Old man?" Illya asked quietly, eyes blinking in curiousity.

"Yeah, he said he was Sakura's grandfather and stuff but... he seemed that much old and wrinkly to be just her grandfather."

"What was his name?" I paused, glancing in silent surprise at the new tone in the girl's voice and sighed. "He said something like Zou-gen, Zojen?"

"Zouken Matou?" I nodded, still trying to figure out what was happening to the short Einzbern.

"Everything alright, Illya-chan?"

My question seemed to spark a reversion of that expression, her eyes returned to glow as usual.. something I had not noticed during the brief 'mature' moment.

"I- Yeah. Just losing myself in my thoughts."

I patted her head, getting a smile out of her to met my own. "It's fine.. I think I can understand this _very well_."

 _ **You talk as if hearing voices isn't batshit crazy, fucko. Maybe we both should see some therapist after this shitty predicament.**_

 _I... actually can go with this line of thought._

 _ **That you are batshit crazy?**_

 _No, that you are less assholish after a long nap._

 _ **Screw you!**_

"Master?"

I blinked back in reality. "Y-Yes, Assassin?"

"Has something happened to you that... _limited our connection?_ " I realised he meant the thought-line we all had previously.

"Just had it turned off."

That is... an interesting development.

 **You might need to keep the connection going everytime, Master. You don't know when you are going to be ambushed and we are distracted by something or someone else.**

 **If I had known that the alternative to Rin would have been being a guarding dog for someone, I might have as well died.**

"Now that you are up and healed up, maybe we should start planning something regarding this new information. If Zouken Matou is truly meddling in the War, maybe you should truly start to plan how to deal with him."

Illya and I nodded at that advice. "Possibly getting as much firepower to support this as we can."

 **Finally some smart thinking from you, dumbface.**

I was thankful of the whole tuning out my Servants from my conversation with my unusual 'mindmate'.

"Oh?" The Einzbern tilted her head confused. "You intend to bring Shirou?"

I grimaced. "Yes... but not only him."

The white-haired girl sighed as she realised what he was alluding at. "You want to get the priest and that prick Tohsaka in this? I mean, I can forgive Rin but Kotomine is too much dangerous to-"

"That can be easily overcome by bringing a secret candidate."

The door of the dining room were opened by a grinning blond bastard with an arrogance equal only to the vastity of the universe.

"You finally decided to surrender to me-" "Nope."

The grin froze, a scowl replacing it quite quickly. "You said that-" "I would give you what you wish for. And that is... Saber."

Rising anger vanished, a cold expression from those demanding eyes urging me to continue.

"We are forming a small party to hunt down some shady, old man and Saber is surely going to join in. You want to do this search and destroy, you goldie noob?"

He flushed in silent fury as he was being reminded of his interesting inability to play at Call of Duty.

"Why form such a _crusade_ for a pitiful bug, Graham?"

"Because I think this old man is cheating and hijacking something you said you owned."

...

"He is cheating to get the Grail?" I nodded at his question. "Indeed, he is cheating."

If there was something that enraged the King of Uruk more than Fakers and Thieves, were Cheaters. Especially those in the modern games where he couldn't hunt them down and personally punish them.

"Tomorrow morning." Gilgamesh stated, turning around and walking back to the entrance, ignoring the slightly trembling maids with their weapons.

I was about to return to my scheming when Goldie returned for a moment to drop a piece of information that... I badly digested.

"It's interesting how the former Master of Saber has become the very thing he had hoped to not become."

He laughed all the way to the entrance but I couldn't care less.

Assassin-no, Kiritsugu panicked as his identity was revealed in the worst moment possible.

He tried to jump towards the window- " **Kneel!** "

My hand burned as one of the Spells forced the Servant to comply, his legs shakily kneeling towards me.

" **Reveal your identity!** "

"K-K-Kiritsugu Emiya-" My hand ached even more as my fist catched the Assassin unaware, giving time for my other palm to grasp at his mask and hood and remove those from sight.

There he was, that bastard that had ruined his life by being a greedy shit with the best of intentions.

"M-Master-" "Can it Archer, I- You are Shirou, aren't you!?"

At that Illya actually broke from her cold reaction, staring wide-eyed at the Servant of the Bow as he grimaced at being discovered too.

"T-T-This- What is this!" I never felt so much betrayed by people as I stared at the absent-looking Kiritsugu. "Why you haunt me! Why you seek to make my life hell!"

He stood silent, taking the rant without much of a flinch.

"You bastard! I-I will end the contract now with Caster's dagger and-" I froze as a familiar hand squeezed mine and I turned to the one who interrupted me.

"Y-You are scaring me, Sean-kun. C-Can you calm down.. just a little bit."

I blinked, eyes wide open as I stared back at my other hand, now cackling in pure bluish energy because I was charging... a Norse Shot.

Sure, sure, call me childish and all but the better version of that crappy, stunning curse Rin had tried to use was certainly in need of a serious and badass name.

Energy dispersed and the glow ceased as I nodded at Illya. "I-I'm sorry, I was-"

I paused as she got close enough and I let her small arms hug me. "I know. You are angry and it's not helping that he is here."

Kiritsugu made the mistake of turning his head, surprised that the quick hand of the Einzbern actually landed a slap on his cheek. "I want some revenge too."

Then her rubies turned into my weary eyes. "Yet I think that maybe there are better ways to deal with this than just blow things up."

...I sighed, feeling her quiet voice actually soothing my furious mind and then nodded.

"Understood."

She giggled. "You are a silly-head, Sean-kun."

* * *

"Hear ye, hear ye. We start the trial of today." I proclaimed from my seat created by soft pillows taken by the incredible reserve created by Leysritt. "Today it is the case of Emiya-san and Emiya-san vs. Fuyuki. You may start, your honor."

Illya giggled from her small throne of fluff as she eyed the two prosecuted 'criminals' from her higher ground.

"Your defence shall be provided personally since you don't have lawyers nor we have one of office _free_ to work with you. You may start."

"Is that it? No sassy remark or-" "Do you want to share your grave with your younger, dumber self, _Archer_?"

That silenced the sarcastic piece of shit up and I nodded to the 'Judge' to proceed with the situation.

"I would like to.. call Shirou Emiya to the witnesses' post."

Illya nodded and her eyes stared raptly at the butt-hurt Emiya as he moved to a seat with a small sign where was written 'Dumb is here'.

"Shirou, is that true that when I was alive I never pushed you to become an Hero of Justice."

"You said that you wanted to become an Hero-" "Reply to the question, witness."

Blushing fiercely at being cornered in such a faux trial, the Archer sighed. "No."

"I have no other questions." "Wait, what?-" "The witness can return to his place."

His shocked expression was ignored as he make an hasty retreat to his seat, eyeing his father with newfound hatred.

"The prosecutor can start his counter-interrogation."

I nodded and stood in front of the silent Assassin, blinking at his lacking reaction.

"You are accused of burning half the city, killing hundreds of people, among them my parents and Shirou's. How do you plead?"

"Guilty."

I grimaced at the lacking sense of fight, the lack of satisfaction in finishing off the monster that had ruined my life. "You are accused for having left Illya at the castle prior to the Grail war."

"May I explain-" "Denied."

Finally some reaction! I grinned inwardly as the man frowned at the unfair treatment but I didn't care.

"You are accused of..." I paused for a moment, double-cheeking the third part of the accusations before I turned to look at Illya questionably.

She merely shrugged, yet a small smile creeped in her face.

"Y-You are accused of.. having started a coitus with your wife few days prior to leaving Germany and having left the door open, giving Illya the chance to see... it. How do you plead?"

He was incredibly embarassed, almost as I was, when he turned to stare at the giggling mess that once was Illyasviel von Einzbern. "I-It was an accident. You don't need to-"

The girl recovered quickly and scoffed. "As if I can't understand the responsibilities behind such level of trust, Papa."

"She is technically 21 after all-" "The only one I would trust is Sean-kun."

...

"What?"

"Nothing~" Illya exclaimed, her hands trying to cover her full-face blush.

"Nevermind." I returned my attention back to the Servant, trying to bleach that curious moment out of my existance.

...

I slammed my hands on the desk. "Do you regret it? Everything?"

He grunted, but nodded nonetheless. "Every moments of my life."

I smiled one last time before looking at Illya, her composure back to normal. "I think I have the best punishments."

"Shirou Emiya, you shall spend your time in this dimensional plane to convince your younger self to stop with his nonsensical behavior and his stalkerish tendencies."

Archer was ready to protest, yet he heard the last bit of the punishment and.. _blushed_ , looking away from my glare.

"Kiritsugu Emiya, you shall help me and Illya in achieving victory in this War by aiding us in getting a solution without Illya getting sacrificed AND-" I stated loudly, overcoming the small protest from the young Einzbern regarding this first part. "I want you to give Illya your Magic Crest to her!"

The man stood silent and frozen for few moments, drawing no little concern from my standpoint.

Then he smiled, increasing the dread in my stomach. "While I can more than happily agree to the first request, I am unable to even address the second."

"Why?" His smile widened and I felt a migraine around the corner.

"Because my Magic Crest was used to kickstart the dying body of a child ten years ago by activating his dormant Circuits." He stared at me and I paled in realisation. "You were that child."

* * *

 **AN**

 **Kerry had actually saved Sean in the past?! How much is unknown to our protagonist about things he was certain to know perfectly?!**

 **Review Q &A!**

 **Pasive Nox** **: Thank you!**


	17. Inner Demons

**DISCLAIMER**

 **The following is a fan-based**

 **FICTION**

 **F/SN, F/Z, F/KPI and other products related to the Fate Series are all owned by TYPE-MOON, Kinoko Nasu and Takashi Takeuchi.**

 **Please support the official release.**

 **Warning!** **This chapter contains suicidal tones and themes, thus is advised to the readers caution to not read the described part of the chapter if he/she is a minor.**

* * *

 **Chapter 16:** **Inner Demons**

* * *

"What do you mean yesterday that old man attacked?! Why you didn't say anything when I called you?"

Rin Tohsaka rolled her eyes at hearing my ire, deeming more interesting staring at the semi-frozen road they were walking by.

Illya was silently but curiously staring at the tsundere and Berserker's snort was perceived even in his spirit form.

"Because it was... _weird_." She shuddered at remembering that encounter. "His Assassin managed to almost kill Saber thanks to a boundary field created by his Master. If it hadn't been for Saber's magic resistance she would have not dodged that strike near her neck... then _it returned_."

"It?" I mused quietly, then my eyes widened. "You mean that the weird Shadow made a little greeting there?"

The girl nodded. "It was aiming something dark at me... and Shirou fainted after he pushed me away from that.. _thing_."

"What about Zouken?" The question was legitimate and Rin sighed.

"He was suprised to see it, scared even. I think he is not the one behind that creature."

"Difficult to believe... maybe it had some magical leash that _shouldn't_ have let it go around-" Illya sighed tiredly at the theory.

"Boring and certainly difficult to see it happening." The Einzbern turned her red eyes by the Emiya household, now near enough to see. "You two described something that isn't certainly going to be _leashed_ so easily and mostly, not by someone as prepared as the Matou."

"But that leaves us back to square one and we don't have many ways to explore to know the responsible-" "What if it is the Grail?"

... "You mean about-?" Illya nodded and we shared a knowing expression, leaving the Tohsaka to stare at the exchange in confusion and annoyance.

As much as _trustworthy_ Rin was, giving her that bit of information might actually open a can of worm I wasn't sure I wanted to deal with.

We finally reached the main door that led to the worst place possible in my mind. Shirou Emiya's house.

I felt the eyes of both girls and of the Servants on the back of my head as I rung the doorbell.

Sounds of soft footsteps and... Sakura opened the door.

"Ye-s?" The plum-haired girl paused, a confused series of looks switched quickly in front of me.

First confusion, then panic, followed by dread and finally faux surprise.

I blinked at the strange attitude but shrugged at it. "Good evening, kohai. Is Shirou home?"

She let a short, nervous giggle out of her mouth and nodded slowly. "Y-Yeah. Shirou-senpai is actually resting... he returned yesterday quite wounded and... Saber-san was not with him."

The last part was said with _something_ different than normal sadness. _Mourning?_

"You mean that the idiot lost **her** too?!" Sakura flinched at Rin's unexpected shriek and squeaked in shock when the Tohsaka rushed inside the house without much regard of the younger girl.

She was about to turn and demand Rin-senpai to stop when- "Sakura?"

The Matou paused, before giving a questioning glancing at the remaining two Masters. "Everything's alright? You holding up with the pressure and all?"

She opened her mouth, a small blush forming in her face, then she nodded quickly. "Y-Yeah! Everything's alright, Sean-senpai!"

I was about to stop the girl from rushing back in the living room when a quick, soft sensation shocked my approaching fingers and I stared wide-eyed at my hand.

 _W-What was that?!_

 _ **You are getting closer to the truth...**_

 _What do you mean? Stop with this crappy enigmatic tone and all?!_

I shrugged and proceeded inside the house while Illya removed her small boots and put on a small pair of comfy shoes. "This is nice~"

An half-snort left my mouth and that attracted the Einzbern's attention, the girl pouting at the blatant humiliating stare. "Mou, you know that I'm five years older than you!"

"Yeah..." _But that doesn't stop you from being frigging adorable!_

She huffed and looked away, deciding to follow Sakura in the living room.

With a nod, the Servants followed all the short girl, leaving just me to deal with whatever the red-haired moron was doing.

Finding his room was... surprisingly easy but the issue was the door.

My hand touched the pommel, twisting it and pulling it toward me but it didn't move, it didn't open.

" _Let's think this up again._ " I whispered to myself, trying to solve this little problem. " _Shirou uses that weird 'Trace On' stuff Assassin had spoken about and that... it can be released under extreme duress."_

My hands together grasped the pommel in a strong hold as I felt the familiar burning sensation of my _Circuits_ working on reaching out the magical lock.

At first it was a mere burning feeling, then it started to feel as if my arms were smoking and soon I felt lava being settled in my suffering limbs.

Yet the painful experience didn't last long as the pain stopped the very moment my hands felt.. nothing?

I opened my eyes, having those closed by the previous moment of suffering, and I stared wide-eyed at the pommel, or lack thereof.

 _What was that?_

 _ **Something incredibly boring.**_

I ignored the dumb comment and sneaked inside the room, turning to my left to find... Shirou sleeping in his bed.

His shirt had been removed to permit the plum-haired girl the space to place the various bandages covering the idiot's wounds, yet there was something wrong with this scene.

I blinked and stared closer to his hands and _saw several cuts on his wrists._

Backing away, my horrified glance turned to the bedside table and saw a small kitchen knife...

"Y-You fucking moron!"

Eyes snapping open at my angry yell, Shirou jumped up from his bed and stared in surprise and barely veiled dread at my enraged expression.

"S-Sean-" "What is that! **WHAT IS THAT!** "

Amber eyes darted to the bloodied knife, the Emiya gulping nervously. "I-It's not like you think-"

His answer died down as I proceeded to punch him in his face, the might behind the hit making him return to sit on the bed.

"You fucking, demented fuck! Do you think this time I will go easy on you?! Oh no!"

Another punch, this time hitting his red cheek and sending his head to hit the pillow he was previously using.

"You have so much to live for.. AND YOU DECIDE TO WASTE IT LIKE THIS!"

It was then that a punch was returned, restrained but still painful, landing on my chest.

"I-It's not my fault! I-I-I tried to help Saber and I was worthless-" My open palm slapped the shit out of the whimpy thing in front of me.

"You disgust me, Emiya Shirou!" I felt rage surging from my lungs, from my throat, from my head, from my soul. "You've had a father, you have someone loving that takes care of you, you have friends, you have Sakura, you had the Archery club... and you speak of being **worthless, of being useless?!** " I shook my head in my own delusion. " **You had everything in the present to make the best future and you decided to waste it by becoming a shitty hero!** "

I couldn't deal with the pitiful sight and I decided to march out of the room and out of that goddamn house.

I heard my name being called by familiar people, humans, Servants and Masters, but I was far too much tired to deal with anything or anyone without becoming positively murderous.

My run lasted for almost ten minutes straight, my lungs burning at the unnatural chase and I took a moment of pause to stare at the lake I just found myself near.

It was... the lake near the Ryuudou temple?

I was confused in finding myself in that place, yet the curious, burning strain that started to be felt in my legs highlighted the fact I had used my Circuits once again.

A sense of tiredness washed over me and I felt close to collapse.

Maybe it wouldn't be a bad idea, I contemplated as I sat near the body of water yet my simple plan was ruined by the sound of a twig being snapped by something.

My head turned around and I blinked as I stared to a quite close Shadow staring at me.

...Fuck me!

* * *

 **AN**

 **In three chapters I will complete 1/3 of the Route, similar to how the movie did.**

 **Also about the Suicide theme:** **Some might find how I solved this situation quite.. unorthodox if not utterly despicable, yet I had my own reason. First thing first, suicide used as a mean to not suffer anymore is... wrong, on so many levels. Having studied Sociology, I had the opportunity to study the four different types of suicide and, the one Shirou was trying to achieve, wasn't the same one would do in a situation of truly feeling dead inside. Shirou had reasons to live, to be a _selfish_ teen with normal ambitions, yet he strives for something akin to a pipe dream and feels hopeless when that road is shown as the worst thing to try and walk onto. He lost his first family, he was the only survivor (in Canon) from the Great Fire and lost Kerry early on in his life but to say that he had nothing better to fight for means to actually forget Taiga, Sakura, Rin, Issei, Saber, Mitsuzuri and the other people he knows and loves. The type of suicide he could be compared with is 'egoistical' because Shirou _isolates himself_ from society and then try to use the suicide as a mean to make his life worth. (In my opinion, that is the _worst way_ to leave the world. Suicide is bad and it is stupid to think it as solution to something because death is nature-given, not to be used so selfishly for some idiotic reasoning behind the extreme act.)  
**

 **Next chapter will see the fight with the Shadow and...** _ **something unnatural and unexpected will happen to Sean**_ **.**

 **P.S. It's my Birthday.**

 **Review Q &A!**

 **PasiveNox** **: Thank you!**

 **merendinoemiliano** **: Thank you and I hope you passed them!**


	18. Shadow Play

**DISCLAIMER**

 **The following is a fan-based**

 **FICTION**

 **F/SN, F/Z, F/KPI and other products related to the Fate Series are all owned by TYPE-MOON, Kinoko Nasu and Takashi Takeuchi.**

 **Please support the official release.**

* * *

 **Chapter 17:** **Shadow Play**

* * *

"While I'm sure you would enjoy doing terrible things to my purity, I think I will pass the opportunity- HELLO, BYE!"

This felt too much similar to some insane, horror game I had on my PC, minus the 2D and plus the possibility of dying **or worse!**

With a _completely manly_ shriek dodged another quick tendrils trying to pierce a considerable hole in my head.

My hand glowed and I felt prana surging for a Norse Shot that went straight at the Shadow, the mysterious figure standing still and _dematerialising the attack_.

"Stop hacking, it's wrong and- SHIT!" One of the cloth-like whips grazed my shoulder, sending some crazy pain to my poor brain.

Now that I noticed, why was the thing's attacks getting quicker, better, **angrier.**

A distorted roar and I blinked as I saw inded the dark shadows at its feet stretching mercilessly towards me.

I rolled left, paling as it reached a tree and _rot it from inside out_.

Gulping loudly as I thought how this could end badly for me **if none of my Servants got there, dangit!**

 _ **It's your fault if you get prissy about something so dumb.**_

 _Fuck you, you are not helping there!_

An inner scowl from the pest didn't actually soothe the panic that was getting my movements sloppier because of the increasing shivering.

My legs were still tired from the previous, **pleasant jogging** and I was feeling quite dizzy at running around so much.

I had hopes, hopes of getting someone to bail me out of that fugly predicament and I was sure I saw someone by the end of the path.

"S-Sean!"

I swore loudly as I saw goddamn Shirou standing there, wide-eyed at the whole scene.

Few more foul words left my mouth as I saw the idiot running straight at me, possibly to try and **be an hero**.

"G-Guess what, Shirou-!"

I never felt so much satisfied when my knuckles crashed on his mug pushing him back.

"-sucks that you aren't a friggin' hero!"

I never felt so much screwed when my eyes catched sight of the darkness spreading towards me, getting on my legs and-

* * *

 **Agony.**

That very word that had become Sean Graham's life after months spent in that dark basement under the Church.

He had been too much trustworthy of the _kind_ Kirei Kotomine, the priest who had taken care of him, **groomed him to become simple food for Gilgamesh.**

Every single bone ached as he continued to lay there in a perpetual state of pain and suffering.

Carcasses of the orphans that had been his predecessors were there too, **keeping him company in that horrible place.**

Yet something felt amiss. Something was different than the previous days as the creaking door that led upstairs opened, not followed by the sadistic man's footsteps approaching.

His tired eyes stared impassively as a floating figure emerged from the hallway, donning a long black dress with red decorations.

He couldn't catch sight of the face of this individual, yet the feminine built assured him that it was a woman.

" **So this is the results of Kotomine's little play.** " She seemed to have missed him among the dried up corpses, quite relieving him of dealing with such **innatural being**.

His hopes were dashed as soon as he heard her giggling **close to his ear**.

" **You live. But why would you?~** " Red eyes now stared into his, trying to decipher him for the selfish pleasure of knowledge. " **Why do you still fight back? You have lost so early on... yet you fight.** "

" **You are not like** _ **him**_ **, yet you are stubborn in living. Can you tell me why?~** "

Silence was met by her seemingly soft request, his throat having suffered the worst of the torture in the previous sessions.

" **Unresponding.. yet still alive. You are a mystery... Maybe I could... yes.** "

She approached, he felt her crouching in front of him, her smile now perfectly visible to his tired soul.

" **You have garnered my attention, Sean Graham. Let's see what truly makes you essential.** "

Another giggle and he felt her warm breath near his face.

A pair of lips met his bruised ones and Sean Graham knew no more.

 **FATE Route Ending**

* * *

Shirou Emiya was sure to have seen the worst and the weirdest in the past few days.

The sight in front of him... disturbed him beyond the previous instances as he stared at the darkened form that once was Sean Graham, turning his face to the Shadow.

The creature had taken notice of the unique phenomena, seemingly awed by the predicament.

Awe turned into agony as its former target appeared in front of it and delivered a loud punch where its ribcage could be.

A distorted groan, then the Shadow was sent flying straight at some trees, the impact bringing them all on it.

The creature got up and sent its cloth-like tendrils at **Sean** , the darkened teen standing still, relaxed.

As soon as the tendrils approached his chest, his head and his leg, **Sean** seemed to disappear and reappear away from harm's way in a blink of an eye.

Shirou gulped nervously as the teen grasped one of the tendrils and pulled it, sending the shadow flying once more, this time its face landing on **Sean** 's waiting fist.

The creature's flight reached the sky as the darkened teen's hand started to glow red and black, energy flooding wildly around his closed palm as he aimed his finger at the unconscious creature.

The Emiya had seen the attack the fellow orphan had _stolen_ from Rin, but this time...

This time he felt like this _wasn't the same_. **It felt so much wrong to even stare at**.

Finally the malicious sphere of darkness was released, flying at neck-breaking speed as it reached in mere moments the figure in the sky and then-

 ***KABOOOOM!***

Fuyuki's sky was brightened by the following, massive explosion.

Shirou blinked at the sight, noticing the lack of the Shadow and... that **Sean** advancing towards him.

He tried to get up from the ground, yet **he** was already there his fist approaching ruthlessly to his tired body-

Berserker crashed on **Sean** like a speeding train, his massive hand grabbing the teen's head and smashing it on the ground, creating a crater with his absurd might.

The Servant roared for a challenge and the darkened teen complied by throwing a powerful uppercup at the behemoth, trying to make it lose its balance.

Another punch crashed on **Sean** 's ribs, directing his flying body to impact on a giant rock.

"Berserker, stop!" Shirou's eyes widened as Illya ran past him and towards the brawling duo.

"Illya, no!" He tried to move but it was too late as the darkened teen disappeared from his struggle with the Greek Hero and reappeared in front of the waiting Einzbern.

The girl spread her arms and stared at him with a fierce expression and... **Se** an stopped.

His body quivered as the darkness covering it dissipated, revealing a mess on its place.

Butchered clothes, some bruises around his neck and face and finally several, bleeding cuts on his fingers from the hand he had used that overpowered Gandr.

"I-Illyah." The white-haired girl managed to stop Sean's body to fully fall on the floor, pulling him close as Berserker advanced silently.

"I-I got you. _Now I'm not going to let you go_." Shirou blinked as the Servant put the Einzbern back on his shoulder, picking the unconscious teen and... him! "W-Wait!"

"Be quiet, oniichan. There is already so much we are going to **discuss** about." Red eyes stared coldly at him. "Like your perchant for running into danger, cutting yourself and... then I'm going to lecture Sean.. yeah!"

She nodded at herself as they both started to return back to the Emiya Household.

* * *

 **AN**

 **Last chapter of the day and Oh My! Sean got some crazy shit going with himself.**

 **Also, before someone ask, while the simple description of this form could remind some of the Dead Face phenomenon in Last Encore, DFs happens only within Moon Cell thus no, Sean is not a Dead Face.**

 **He is something** _ **similar, yet much worse**_ **.**

 **Review Q &A!**

 **PasiveNox** **: Thank you!**

 **merendinoemiliano** **: The term is Euthanasia and I don't think this is the case. Euthanasia, in my personal opinion, is to be used only (and just only) when someone is affected by serious illnesses that damage his/her capacity to deal with life. I remember watching the spanish movie 'Mar Adentro' that explained one of those cases quite perfectly.**

 **Matze96** **: Thank you!**

 **Dante** **: Thank you!**


	19. Fake Past

**DISCLAIMER**

 **The following is a fan-based**

 **FICTION**

 **F/SN, F/Z, F/KPI and other products related to the Fate Series are all owned by TYPE-MOON, Kinoko Nasu and Takashi Takeuchi.**

 **Please support the official release.**

* * *

 **Chapter 18:** **Fake Past**

* * *

I was once more in that weird representation of my room, my body sore and aching, unwilling to help me up.

I stared the ceiling and blinked just once to see Angra Mainyu now staring down unto my face with a blank expression, yet something similar to pity and disappointment was visible from his eyes.

" **This time... things are working much quickier than the previous three loops. I think we are coming to that damn conclusion we were planning all along but...** _ **you are still not yourself.**_ **"**

Confusion was something that was starting to irk me. _Not myself?!_

"The fuck you talking about, shitstain?"

He snorted as he sat on the chair by the bedside, he blinked as he replied. " **Your mind has yet to grasp the gravity of the situation and regarding our little predicament. We were supposed to die by the third loop, yet something happened with Gaia forcing a** _ **fourth**_ **attempt to avoid the ending of the world.** "

"T-The will of the planet?" An odd sensation of remembrance washed over my soul but I failed to grasp why that was so. "Loops, attempts and 'not myself'... you smocking some ripoff weed or what?"

He chuckled and I felt at loss. I would have expected a snarky remark, even another fist fight but Angra Mainyu seemed so much... defeated at this point.

" **O-Of course, heh. I feel so dumb to talk with you, comparing you with** _ **him**_ **.. I'm so delusional.** "

I gasped in panic as darkness fell on the room and I felt drowning in something so _foul,_ _ **so dangerous**_ _._

* * *

Illyasviel von Einzbern felt quite tired... it had been almost nine hours since Sean had falled in some deep sleep and she had been keep watch over him, barely interacting with the other individuals inside the Emiya household, mostly because Shirou and Rin were tending over a sick Sakura with some high fever.

She scoffed inwardly at the curious situation, morbidly questioning how her Oniichan could be so calm after having **tried to kill himself, got Sean in danger and returning back with that quiet frown of his.**

It was infuriating and she was very tempted to just order Berserker to beat to the dust the dunderhead that was Shirou Emiya.

But she refused to bulge from her seat near the comatose teen.

In a certain way, she found odd how someone the very opposite of her Oniichan could actually be that much more endearing and likeable.

She wouldn't be surprised that if he was asked that question he would relay a sassy comeback or joke his way around or out of the words.

The Einzbern sighed tiredly and turned by the only entrance of the guest room, the door being opened by...

"Illyasviel von Einzbern."

"Kotomine Kirei."

His smile was one of the few things the little white-haired girl would have used as a reason to destroy the waste of space that was the Overseer of the War.

"No developments regarding Sean-kun's conditions?" She didn't reply, her glare intensifying as the man nodded to himself. "Understood..."

"It would be a sad thing if he died.. truly. I imagine that his death would cause you infinite sorror and despair-" "You know it's quite a bad omen to speak about the death of someone that is currently ill, Kotomine?"

The priest blinked as Assassin left his spirit form just few moments to stab the church's representative.

"Quite true." His mouth twitched as if keeping that smile was painful for him, especially under pressure. "But I do find peculiar that someone that is meant to represent deception and assassination would decide for something this bold and direct."

"But no more about Servants. Let us.." He walked closer to the bed and stared at the teen's sleeping form. "..speak about this curious specimen."

"W-What are you talking about, moron?"

He chuckled briefly, his empty eyes filled by some nostalgia. "Oh, this is so much familiar.. I remember when I met your mother during the Fourth War."

He made a step forward, Illya's red eyes went wide as dread filled her tired mind.

"I remember her hopes of seeing her husband coming to save her from the Master of Assassin..." His voice tightened in emotion as he continued ruthlessly to narrate the tale. "I remember when her warmth that had so much infuriated my hands left her body as she died with a broken neck.."

The young Einzbern shivered uncontrollably.

She had wanted for so long to know how her mother had died, hoping it had been around the time the Grail needed its sacrifice to work.. yet _he was there, smiling and knowing very well that he was powerless_.

She- **She-**

She blinked and stared at the hand that was holding Sean's, tears-stricked eyes noticing two charcoals staring back.

"Kotomine..." The man perked at being addressed and the teen smirked. "I will make sure.. to use my wish to officially destroy every single Mapo Tofu in this planet."

Illya was _confused_ by the proclamation but was oddly pleased to see the priest going livid for a brief moment.

"You wouldn't!" He was shaking in anger and even Assassin had to look away from that odd scene.

Sean... smirked. "I will and... Assassin." The Servant turned around to the call of his Master. "Please show Kotomine the door and.. is Gilgamesh there? Yes? Then please tell him of what our jolly, ol' priest just said, I think he will like to know how much volatile he had became."

"Should I also help the other Archer out the door?" Hesitation, Illya sensed it and understood it.

"No." The teen groaned, stretching his neck and ignoring how pale Kirei had gotten so suddenly. "Just tell him what he said and get the idiot out of the house, let him know that Shirou is top-chef and will give him some 'average' meal."

Kiritsugu paused for a moment before nodding slowly. "Understood.. Master."

The room fell in silence as only Illya and the wounded teen were left-

"They sure seems to know each other, Master."

Archer nodded at Caster's curious tone. "They had _met_ in the past, just not in amiable terms."

"Oh?" Medea blinked in surprise. "Isn't that.. good? That would make Assassin capable of dealing with that infuriating man."

Sean frowned at the Counter-Guardian and the Servant noticed. "Something you wanted to ask, Master?"

"You are trembling."

The Prodigy of the Bow paused at Illya's remark and stared at his shivering hands.

"Is it because of Gilgamesh just few rooms away?"

EMIYA blinked and sighed. "Maybe.."

"You know I can talk to him and dissuade him from mauling your ass?"

"I have met him many times to know that is a foolish attempt."

Sean scoffed. "Leave it to me-" "Absolutely not!"

The outburst of the little Einzbern surprised the Graham. "W-wha-"

"Your body is still recovering from **that** , you have missed breakfast and lunch and also I'm not wasting my opportunity to nurse you!"

...

"I think we should leave them, Archer.."

The Servant frowned and his eyes showed some weird hesitation. "S-Sure?"

 _Traitors! They are leaving me in-!_

As the two rushed by the door and left the room, Illya launched her cry of war as she throw herself onto his poor, sore body.

"EARGH!" "Yatta!"

She giggled at the painful attack and smiled in relief as she snuggled her head on his chest.

"I-I thought you wanted to nurse me, not destroy me."

Another giggle, this time red eyes stared playfully at the teen's ones.

"I am an expert and I know that the best cure to this situation is... cuddling!"

... "What? Illya, please this isn't even fun-ny." A silent groan as he felt her breathing going slower and her eyes closing in satisfaction.

"..You feel asleep?!"

And so Sean Graham was 'restrained' to the bed until the following day.

* * *

 _Uhhhh..._

 **I think we may have underestimated that pesky senpai that is Sean-kun.**

 _He is such a meanie! He didn't have to hit so hard-uhhh.._

Sakura was happy that her Senpai and now her Oneesan were tending over her frail form.

Her body sure wasn't ready to exert that much energy without getting the worms this much agitated and now the plum-haired girl was starting to feel... _needy_.

 **We need to seduce Shirou-kun!**

 _Wha-What? But Senpai wouldn't want to-_

 **Oh please! You saw how Sean-kun was staring at you? He was literally drooling a little at how much delicious you seem.**

 _...weren't we talking about Shirou-senpai?_

 **I mean-** _ **Yes**_ **, Shirou-kun is our priority! We can and will seduce him, Sakura-chan.**

* * *

Gilgamesh, King of Uruk, was mostly amused with what he had been bestowed with.

Sure, he was annoyed that Sean had gotten this much beaten up by that nuisance that was striking fear in Fuyuki, but sure he had not expected to find a duo as funny as the greatest works of his Kingdom.

"Leys! Stop adding that much sugar to the compound!"

Sella was truly having an hard time with her counterpart, the bustier maid having taken quite a knack in annoying her further now that she had her vocal functions upgraded and normalised.

"But Sella, you said you wanted to make it for Sean-sama."

She groaned. "And how is releasing the entire content of the sugar jar in the compound making it 'for Sean-sama'?"

The airheaded maid paused and nodded seriously. "Because he said he liked sweet thing. So a cake should be... sweeter?"

"That is not even a word! And stop adding more chocolate!"

The King of Heroes snickered from the warm and soft couch he had turned into his throne.

He knew he could have laughed even more at the scene, yet his mind was still trying to think how to deal with that troublesome minion that was Kirei Kotomine.

Useful as he was, the priest sure was outliving what had made him so much important, that being his quite large reserves of Prana.

Sean could easily feat the bill by the fact he was currently being drained by three mediocre Servants and still appearing quite healthy.

Such an opportunity to anchor himself to someone that much curious and interesting wasn't not something the Archer was going to scowl at, especially when he felt.. much familiar with the youth.

Similar to Enkidu but still far from it.

His best friend was and still is someone that will hold the highest pedestal in his opinion, yet Sean Graham gained ground quickly in settling himself on par with Siduri.

Truly a confusing dilemma that the Old King loved to deal with.

Something new that not even his partial omnipotence didn't found about until that much recently.

He snickered again as the angry maid tackled the confused, airheaded one on the ground.

Time was on his side.. even through he felt just an inch before the end of the world.

* * *

 **AN**

 **I'm a tired boi with tired dreams.**  
 **Funny Story** **: Heard that there was a Drawing Manga formation course in the city were I live and contacted the structure it was held on to get some more info. The man on the other side was very professional and told me how the course was built to be but I kind of got disappointed by the fact** _ **it wasn't cheap**_ **. 1K for six months is goodish, but for someone that cannot even get over 500€ every year isn't that much gud.**

 **Lastly, I think I will put this story in a short Hiatus as I'm waiting for the second movie of Heaven Feel to come out and for me to get some more ideas how to work the second section of the story.**

 **I somehow managed to turn the first movie in 20 chapters and, if there are no issue in the path, I might be able to finish this story with 60 chapters.**

 **Review Q &A!**

 **PasiveNox** **: Thank you!**

 **merendinoemiliano** **: Thank you!**


	20. From Zero to the Present

**DISCLAIMER**

 **The following is a fan-based**

 **FICTION**

 **F/SN, F/Z, F/KPI and other products related to the Fate Series are all owned by TYPE-MOON, Kinoko Nasu and Takashi Takeuchi.**

 **Please support the official release.**

* * *

 **Chapter 19:** **From Zero to the Present**

* * *

 **Fuyuki General Hospital, 1994**

The grey walls of this hospital's room sure were oppressive to my eyes, too uniform and.. impersonal.

While the Fire had left little damage upon my body, I was visibly distressed at what I had lost in other departments.

I remember their screams as they shoved me inside the room of the house left untouched by the fire, my parents trying their best to keep me the safest and.. losing their lives in the process.

Slowly sleep consumed my consciousness and I was sure I was there to die because of the smoke filtering inside my little hideout.

When I woke up in the sterilised room with few doctors around my bed, I was hopeful at first. Hopeful that they had miraculously saved my parents, t-that the fire hadn't been that terrible.

Numbness reigned in my mind as they told me how wrong my frail hopes were, how the cold reality had claimed my mom's and dad's souls.

I was unresponding to further questions and soon I saw him entering inside the room.

His dark coat was stained by ashes, covering the formal black suit he was dressed with. Black hairs and charcoals for eyes were on his face but... it was the latter bit that terrified me.

There was nothing there, not the pity look shared by the experts in the room nor the sad look coming from the nurses. It felt like staring to.. the grim reaper.

Soon we were alone and.. he spoke, his weary tone matching with his depressing appearance.

He made a quick speech, trying to coax me for.. something, something I felt forced, urged by something unpleasant.

Then he concluded with a statement which made the innards of my mouth sour, bitter to the mere idea of what he had said.

 _He wanted to adopt me_.

But why? I never saw this individual in the city, not matter how big it was but... there was also that weird vibe around him, something too much needy and I asked softly but surely.

"Why?"

He didn't reply, his expression changing into something difficult to read upon his face but.. I could see sorrow, justified pain.

Beyond the agony of the passing of my parents, there was a **furious** thought starting to whine, to pester, to catch my full attention as it spoke loudly and truthfully.

Why should I surrender to this? **Why should I forgot them?**

This last inner query hit much deeper as a relatively new, sore spot was concerned by it.

I knew that many would show distaste at the mere idea a child no older than 7 was actually thinking of choosing the lonely road but... **It is better to be alone than ill-accompanied.**

My mouth opened and I decided to make a stand against this senseless tide trying to sweep me around, first with the Fire and now with this odd adoption request.

"No."

He froze as my determined and clear refusal reached his ears. Few moments later I was once more alone... to think how to continue with my life.

* * *

The following few weeks were chaotic, suffering through quick legal battles with this Kiritsugu Emiya and the meek attempts to reassert myself in the school life.

I was also ordered to go regularly to a therapist, Mari Tsubaki, to assest my current psychological capacity and... I kind of enjoyed the visits, feeling that the kind woman slowly poking open my mental shell to be the only one capable of truly resembling my mother.

Her kind smiles, offering some snacks mid-therapy and sometimes even helping around with the homework.

I was sure this was me finally returning to normalcy and I openly ignored the antics of the bullies in my class at Homurahara Academy. I could live with some scratches after all.

Usually the visits would happen by Mari's house as she preferred for her patients to feel homely during the therapy and.. it worked.

That day I had once again avoided the incredibly annoying redhead that had been adopted by the old Emiya and.. was looking forward to speak with Mari.

When I reached the doorknob of her front door I.. I found it open. I shrugged at it, it wasn't the first time the woman would leave the door open in case she was busy, knowing that I would always be punctual with the visits.

I closed the door behind me and started to slowly walk towards the living room, ignoring the oddly cold temperature around the house.

I opened the big door that led her to where she would usually be and-

 _"You know Sean-kun, my boyfriend asked me to marry me!"_ _ **Happiness.**_

 _"Hideo-kun said we would afford a bigger house."_ _ **Hope.**_

 _"Sean-kun... would you want to be... adopted?"_ _ **Family.**_

 _ **And it had all died with her!**_

I... I- **"AAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"**

My throat burned as I let out the everything I had kept bottled from a mere glance at the _sight_.

She was there, eyes closed and smiling... a small knife casually near her body as blood continued to flow ruthlessly out of her wrists.

 **WHYWHYWHYWHYWHYWHYWHYWHYWHY!**

I fell on the floor, my legs giving away at the straining scene and in a brief moment of lucidity I saw it.

It was a small paper with some writing on it.

 **I know what you did.**

W-What? What did she mean? Why knowing something would have her-her..?!

I was confused, shell-shocked and I couldn't even connect with whatever she was implying with that. Why this had happened?!

A full month passed and I let the cacophony of depression and pain return back in my soul as I let things spiral down to silence, to the abstract plane that was more of a pipe dream than ever.

Small punches turned in harsh ones, simple interactions turned in beatings as I turned in the easiest prey for the bullies back at school.

I was so much targeted that I had to skip school more than once in a week because of my injuries making it impossible to move out of bed.

It was during one of those days that I heard the sound of the doorbell ringing through the house.

I sighed, dark eyebags stained my face as it was difficult to find sleep with the ever-recurring nightmare from that day.

I opened the door, expecting once more that incredibly-infuriating Taiga Fujimura banging at my door, and was surprised to see an unknown woman standing there patiently.

I blinked once as I tried to pass the oddly familiar features of her face for a mere illusion but...

"Forgive me for waking you at this early hour but... I think you knew my daughter." I frowned slightly at this but then she presented herself. "My name is Minako Tsubaki and my daughter, Mari... just died last month."

I invited her inside without hesitation and we both spoke about her.

Minako-san's words finally shed some light over the motivation behind the extreme act and.. my blood boiled in my veins.

The former boyfriend of the deceased woman had cheated openly to her, telling her how dull and boring she was and how he was meant to live a fun life.

It was an attack on her soul that she had not defense for and.. she faded because of it.

"You know, she told me about you. About little Sean-kun being like a son for her." That was a painful blow, one I knew the woman was unaware she had just delivered.

"She..." I finally spoke softly, catching her attention instantly. "She wanted to adopt me."

Her eyes widened and I felt a wave of sadness wash once more on my face but then I saw her slowly approach me and... hug me.

I melted at the familiar interaction and closed my eyes as she lulled me in the embrace.

"I.. I am sorry."

I didn't reply to that unneeded apology, too much tired to deal with anything.

"W-Would you like to accompany me around? I.. I was going to pass by the cementary for the flowers and-" I nodded in the hug and she stopped, accepting my silent request of not talking furthermore. For the first time in a while, I slept a dreamless sleep.

Mari had told me that her family was Christian but.. I didn't give it much attention before she passed away.

Staring at her stone grave, a small picture of her smiling... I felt like I was _staring at her_.

"She was very beautiful." I nodded in agreement and placed the bouquet of roses over the wood plaque with her name and an.. interesting quote.

 **A life lived to make everyone happy is the best life one could die for.**

Why you had to be this selfless?

I stood there few minutes, silent as I prayed for her soul to have reached heaven, going against the rules regarding suicide.

I would met Minako in future occasions and I bid her a goodbye as she had to return back home.

My path back to my house lined right through the big park in the town and I ignored the endless giggles and laugh from children and adults alike.

Yet I stopped right as I reached the corner where the exit I had to take was, I felt the familiar sneers and snarls of children picking on someone.

 _I could have easily ignored that situation, faked ignoranced and gone my merry way._

But... I felt watched by her and.. I did the right thing.

I paced towards the origin of the sounds and found the familiar group of bullies targetting.. was his name Shirou? Anyway, it was the redhead adopted by Kiritsugu Emiya, the same child that pestered me about the Fire and how cool was his father during school.

The leader of the group noticed me and smiled cruelly as he advanced towards me. "Look! We got _dully Sean!_ Let's give him a warm welcome-GAH!"

The four remaining bullies stared in shock at the unexpected retaliation and the ringleader tried to get up from the floor as he had tripped by how surprising the move had been.

"Now you are dead mea-GAH!" Until then I had kept my stress within myself, trying to contain it as best I could without truly answering fire with fire.

Now? Now I could see how _pleasant_ was to beat such a ugly mug.

The four fully froze at the scene as I continued to beat the crap out of that idiotic moron, a cheerful smile upon my face.

I was distracted by this and barely noticed one of them pushing me away while the others pulled their battered friend away from me.

They didn't give another glance back as they escaped from the lil', mean Sean.

I turned to stare at the giddy red-haired child and sighed in relief when I noticed he was unconscious.

...I could leave him there, I mused quietly, but then I would have to deal with being accessory to murder.

It was quite awkward to get the sleeping boy on some unused bench but after few moments I had managed to accomplish that.

I was sad because I truly couldn't feel much from _helping Shirou_ but... seeing the situation from the perception I had just gone and ambushed my former bully... that I could live with.

And from there on Sean Graham turned in the handsome badass everyone knows about!

* * *

"So is she your _girl_ _friend_?"

I was seriously regretting having Illya walking with me for my small errand.

The short Einzbern giggled at Minako's teasing as I finished placing the two bouqets of roses over the grave, interest regarding this situation painted in her face.

"Minako-baachan, shouldn't you be at some nursing home right now?" The old woman scoffed at my counterreply as she looked irked by the comment.

"I am much younger than you think, you silly brat." Then she turned to the white-haired girl. "He gets this fussy only when he is sure to lose an argument, little girl."

I could feel Illya nodding at her behind me and I scowled. "So cruel, attacking me in a two-against-one..."

The two female shared another laugh at my expenses and, as I sighed in annoyance, I gave a small smile at the small photo on the grave.

 _I hope I am making you proud, Mari-haha._

* * *

 **AN**

 **IMMA BACK, B*TCHES!**

 **After few months of silence, this story is once more going to be updated. In the schedule, it will be updated every Monday together with the** **New Principal** **fanfic.**

 **Also on an unrelated note, Fate Player Online Redux has begun!**

 **Review Q &A!**

 **Darkjaden** **: I think I replied this via PM. Hopefully this chapter solidifies my words. :)**

 **Warblessed** **: Yep, this heaven feel route is super tragedgedgedgy!**


	21. Operation 'Worm Buster' (1)

**DISCLAIMER**

 **The following is a fan-based**

 **FICTION**

 **F/SN, F/Z, F/KPI and other products related to the Fate Series are all owned by TYPE-MOON, Kinoko Nasu and Takashi Takeuchi.**

 **Please support the official release.**

* * *

 **Chapter 20:** **Operation 'Worm Buster' (1)**

* * *

I hate being hospitalised for so long.

It wasn't that I despised the loving care Illya had showed in the last two days but... it was annoying to be forced to stay in the same place for so long.

Maybe it was boredom or maybe I just didn't wanted to stay within the proximity of the redhead Emiya.

Possibly it was both, but this is far from the current concerns that were falling in my hands.

Zouken controlled the Shadow, something that not only was capable of nullifying Servants' attack but also turn me into... _that_.

I wasn't 100% sure what that berserk moment was, nor I wished to be turned into that like... ever.

It was a weird experience, one that forced me to see things that makes zero sense to me, things that felt familiar but also unpleasant to see.

Leaving the bastard running around and sowing terror left and right wasn't something acceptable within my limited moral compass.

At first this Grail War had appeared easy peasy with the simple rules of killing Servants without a care of consequences but then things started to get annoyingly serious.

Responsibilities that couldn't be ignored on the spot, like Illya being the Lesser Grail that was meant to be sacrificed for... why?

That is something so far was fleeing any logic I could come up with this nonsensical war.

Was this even a proper competition at all? The Observer/Rulemaker was going around and messing with people for the sake of it, there was a Servant from the previous War that was a weird friend and then the Shadow.

I blinked as I felt returning back to the small reality created by Medea's newest laboratory.

Several objects related to the Shadow, Zouken and the Berserk form had been safely contained within heavily-enchanted jars, being intensively studied by the Caster to find a proper counter to the three abnormalities.

Finding a way to deal with the old Matou seemed quite the easiest task since recovering one of his Crest Worm had been (un)suspectingly done by Kotomine when dealing with Sakura's unnatural fever.

It was a disgusting reminder of the major reason why this man had to go... quickly and silently.

While Medea continued with her work, I decided to focus on something I had quite ignored until now.

" **Mou Sean-kun, you ignored me a lot, you bully!"**

"I think I have already said I was sorry... and you said you were fine with that?"

The flying stick twisted as if pouting at my words. " **That is not the issue! You didn't buy me anygift to truly apologise!** "

Is 'anygift' even a word? "I have been pretty busy because, ya know, being stuck in bed cause crazy monster lurking around."

Her pout lessened. " **I-I think you still need to do something for me! Humph!** "

I sighed loudly as I stared at Ruby with an intense stare, finding quite the treat for the Mystic Code.

"I will let you play with Illya-" The Kaleidostick squealed but I brought a finger up to her. "But you have to promise me something important!"

Her mood deflated at my loud tone. " **And that is?** "

"What I wish to test with you is something Illya must never know." I stated seriously as I stared straight at Ruby. "I will know if it was you that snitched.. and you know what happens to snitchers?"

She sighed tiredly but nodded. " **Snitchers get stitches but... it has to be something truly important to resort to threats, Sean-kun. It is maybe that you are preparing to confess your love to her?** "

I blinked at the question, feeling a weird stinging sensation within my chest. "No?"

The stick snorted and shook a little. " **I guess it will not happen anytime soon...** "

"What are you talking about?" " **N-Nothing!** "

I stared at her quietly for a little more, then sighed tiredly. "Okay then, I wish to know... what is the extent of the Kaleidoscope?"

A short pause followed but the Mystic Code answered summarily. " **I can use the energy of multiple dimensions to sustain anykind of magecraft.** "

A summary that left much to the one that listened. "But there is a limit?"

Another pause but this time her tone got hesitant-ish. " **I have never tried to go** _ **too far**_ **but I think my capacity allows me to recreate something similar to True Magic.** "

"Could you create a working, human body and... put a soul within it?"

" **That is... doable. Sure, it will take some concentration from both me and my user but... Illya can be saved.** "

I froze as a giggle left the Mystic Code, knowing I had been discovered. " **Do you seriously think that I can't see your blatant attempt to save your** _ **friend**_ **?** "

She sighed. " **She will be saved, Sean-kun. I swear on my honor as Kaleidostick!** "

Is that even something worth some honor in the end?

I decided to not question further the truthfulness of the Mystic Code, knowing that she would get quite miffed at that sign of distrust.

"I suppose you will save the day, Rubes." She giggled at the nickname and made a twirl, slamming softly in my face.

" _ **Can I now go and play with Illya-chan?**_ " I sighed in a defeatish way as the stick didn't wait for my reply to skyrocket out of the room, ready to find the soon-to-be-unfortunate Einzbern.

I sat on my bed, staring at the now open door and trying to think what to do about this... situation.

It was surreal but... those images he had seen in that form felt... real to him. As if the one he was viewing them from was... him.

It was an absurd concept and yet his mind was compelled to believe it.

 **It was real, you fool. It was** _ **you**_ **, not you.**

What is this even supposed to mean, you stupid fuck?

 **That you are far too much childish to understand the grave predicament we are all going to face anytime soon, you shitty human.**

I was lying on my bed when Kiritsugu decided to walk inside the room. "Lunch is almost ready and Shirou was doing some patrol- is something wrong, Master?"

A sigh escaped my mouth as I felt once more conflicted with Assassin. Knowing that the man behind the mask was the very man that had pestered him for so long after causing the fricking fire, I suppose I wasn't yet in the mood to even consider forgiveness.

"Nothing that I can solve. Is there anything else you wish to report or-" "Sean."

My mouth closed in a grimace. "What do you want?"

"I am trying to... you are not leaving any space for me to ask for some pardon-"

"Because I don't wish for you to have any. There isn't much that you can do right now."

"I have been foolish and I am genuine when I say I wish to make amend-" "I know but that is not the problem."

... "What?"

"Do you know why apologies seems so... empty when they are relayed so easily to the scorned people? Because there is no sign of actually ending one relationship in any situations. You have messed up, twice, first with the fire and then making Shirou some Hero Wannabe. Do you want to know why I cannot forgive you, Emiya Kiritsugu?"

He didn't reply and I sighed once more. "Because you need to waddle a little more in that self-pity, to remember what happens when you mess up. **That mistakes aren't cheap to make with other people's lives at stake.** "

... "Understood." He turned around without showing any emotion. "Thank you, Sean."

I nodded and closed my eyes as I slowly drifted away to rest a little.

Tomorrow was supposed to be a big day after all.

* * *

Sakura hummed quietly as she picked some ingredients for the cake she had planned to make for her senpai.

 _I wonder if senpai will truly like a cake. He never showed much interest in sweets._

 _ **Trust me, he will like the care and the... passion you put in your efforts. You are a strong girl, Sakura-chan!**_

She giggled inwardly at the odd encouragement but decided to ignore the sudden interest of the voice to help her to gain her senpai's attention.

It had been some calm days ever since Saber had 'disappeared' and hopefully Shirou wasn't going to suffer any further with what had happened in the last few days.

Ever since that irking discovery, the plum-haired girl had been cautious to make sure the redhead would touch knives only under her intense care.

She had to thank Sean-senpai for having addressed such problem and... this for some reason added more of her interest in how a confusing person Sean was.

Abrasive, mostly sassy and sometime even foul-mouthed, the unruly senpai was something that just shattered any semblance she had set for normal people, showing a side of humanity she had never seen.

 _ **He is quite impressive. Isn't he?**_

 _He is_ , she thought softly, _yet he seemed quite... detached from reality._

 _ **He is like us, always trying to make his precious people happy even if this meant sacrificing his own happiness.**_

 _Indeed_ , Sakura mused absently as she started to place the products on the counter, ready to pay for them, but paused just at a specific ingredient she had completely forgotten to have picked back then.

It was chocolate.. yet she was quite sure her senpai liked vanilla more.

 _ **A silly mistake, it can happen once in a while when we are enjoying ourselves and... maybe this is a sign?**_

 _A sign?_ What kind of sign would her mistake mean?

 _ **If I remember correctly from Shirou-senpai's journal, shouldn't Sean-senpai be quite taken by chocolate?**_

The plum-haired girl paused for a moment, blood draining from her face as she remembered that discovery while searching for any hidden blade the Emiya would have used.

It was a small notebook, nothing overly-suspicious on its cover and back but when she opened it...

Sakura had to admit that her senpai knew his way in researching people in their... fullest.

 _ **Bah, it isn't as complete as you assume, Sakura-chan. Shirou-senpai did make some mistakes.**_

She paused. _Really? Wait, how do you know-_

 _ **I think it is mostly some of the measurements, I mean you should see how big Sean-kun's-**_

 _N-NO! I don't need to know!_

 _ **Really? I can assure you... he is bigger than Shirou-senpai.~**_

 _GAH! I didn't need that!_

 _ **Trust me, Sakura-chan, you need to look everything and then decide. There are some.. big fishes in the sea.**_

"Everything's alright, dear?" The kind old lady at the counter asked to Sakura, the girl realising her face was sporting a burning blush.

"Y-Yeah! I'm fine." The woman spared a worried look but handed her the groceries she had just bought.

She walked out of the store, trying to think about something else and was quite dismayed when she remembered that the way back to the Emiya household was a long one- _**hehehehehehe~**_

 _STOP IT!_

Her face was slowly turning in a tomato, drawing the attention of several people in the crowd around her.

What a perverted voice she had in her head!

* * *

 **AN**

 **Sean is a tired boy, Ruby is going to be essential, Kiritsugu is getting whipped a little longer, Medea is working (partly at her Saber's plastic models) and Illya is... doing stuff. Also Sakura is trying to deal with her overly-shameless voice stuck in her head.**

 **It's been so long and Heaven Feel II has yet to arrive in Italy. Goddamit!**

 **Review Q &A!**

 **merendinoemiliano** **: Thank you!**

 **Matze96** **: Yep, we are back on track!**

 **Fenrir-kun** **: EMIYA (Archer) is going to be a more subdued version of what Shirou is right now. You will all understand to the funny ending I have planned for Shirou.**

 **sugoijack9** **: Here is the chapter, mah boi!**


	22. Operation 'Worm Buster' (2)

**DISCLAIMER**

 **The following is a fan-based**

 **FICTION**

 **F/SN, F/Z, F/KPI and other products related to the Fate Series are all owned by TYPE-MOON, Kinoko Nasu and Takashi Takeuchi.**

 **Please support the official release.**

* * *

 **Chapter 21:** **Operation 'Worm Buster' (2)**

* * *

The Matou Residence was a piece from the old quarter of Fuyuki City that hardly anyone cared to even look at. It was antiquate and very few people had any idea of whom was still living in such a decaying house.

When I mounted a quiet offensive against it, I had thought to be faced by the bugs Old Zolgen was known to have as familiars. The place was a constant buzzing, but the insects hardly reacted as I vaulted the gates of the courtyard and proceeded towards the entrance of the building.

The door was open and- _**Bad sign, Sean thought as they all entered inside**_ **-** Wait! What?!

I paused just a moment to regain some composure back from the blur that took my sight away just a brief instant. The Servants shared a worried glance at my sudden freeze but none spoke about it as I looked normal once more.

"S-Something is wrong." I muttered quietly. " _ **I think there is some hidden door nearby.**_ " I blinked and clasped my mouth closed with my hands. I didn't plan to say that and… yet it flew out of my mouth without much concern.

 _Master?_

Assassin looked ready to take me out of the place, perceiving from our connection that I was having some issues. Said issues were somehow connected to the household.

A boundary field shouldn't be able to cause this kind of hallucinations without the Servants feeling something too. They might not be influenced by it, but they would still felt some mana manipulation.

 _ **And I found the third one...**_

I stared at the soft, ghost-like sight of a myself dully pressing onto a pressure place… by the dusty library near the kitchen. Ignoring the group's confusion, I started to walk silently towards the place I visioned the secret spot and…

 **Click**

A set of stairs appeared and it seemed like those were leading to - _ **a basement.**_

Blinking away the sense of déjà-vu, I pushed myself to walk deeper in that unpleasant house with the Astralized Servants following closely and carefully by the small corners of the cold staircase of stone.

The cacophony of silence and the growing headache were all diluted by the increasing sounds of… something moving. Something disgustingly small and filthy, something that wasn't meant to be ever seen.

 **As I finally reached the** very end of the staircase that led to **the basement, I paled at the scene** in front of **me.**

 **Worms.**

 **Thousands of worms** were wriggling by **the center of the room and a familiar, purple bang** of hair **barely visible among** the fiends.

A loud thud broke the attention he had on the horrid mass to see a bloody and battered Shirou crashing on the floor. A balding old man was cackling from afar, staring at the twitching youth as he tried to get up once more.

"It's futile, Emiya Shirou-kun. Trying to 'steal' Sakura from her rightful family is not something you should have even thought of trying and-" He glanced at the side, dark pools staring right at me. "Oh and we got Graham-san too to join your execution."

He smiled. "I guess I will have to offer him a common grave with your heroic and foolish head."

The old worm cackled again but my eyes were not on him anymore as I returned to glance as the suffering plum-haired girl. "Caster, get the girl out of that!"

Medea didn't need to be told twice as a bright light sparked from her staff and burned away the worms from the naked body of the girl.

"Surprising to see someone this lucky in one of those Wars, but it's useless to try and meddle with things you hardly can comprehend."

As the words left his mouth, I felt wind shatter by my side and I saw a surprising sight. The dark being that had been nicknamed 'Fake Assassin' was there, mere moments to reach with its unnatural red arm my body, but was stuck in place by a knife piercing its skill. Kiritsugu punched the Servant away, letting it fade without much of a sneer.

"Impressive handwork from your Assassin, but none of your Servant is able to deal with me. I will give you the choice to leave for the sake of the old alliance between the Einzbern and the Makiri-"

"Shut the fuck up."

The loud response was met by a gobsmacked Zouken as he reasserted his features to show disgust and anger at the vulgar tone used in the reply.

"So be it!" A wave of worms swarmed the large catacomb-like basement but Caster's quick intervention was a large purplish barrier covering us all. "Desist, Graham, there is nothing to-"

He stopped, getting still for a brief moment as he looked down on his chest. A blade was sticking out of it and he started to choke in his own dark blood.

"W-What?" His regeneration wasn't working, something was destabilizing his whole body- no, his entire soul. "H-How did you-"

"I made a sound research of any possible instances that could have helped in determining your secret and… I managed to get close enough to it to create a proper solution to your 'immortality.'"

He snarled and tried to make a step forward but his body was already decaying to an alarming rate.

"Obituaries, newspapers, old Einzbern tomes and..." I paused, blinking one moment to avoid blenching at the disgusting face Zouken was showing. "Justeaze's Journal."

..."WHY YOU-" He fell on the ground, twitching in pain as the small piece of paper sticking by his back from the knife was now visible. Snatching a Baptism Rite from Kotomine had been a painful gamble, one that would see me endure some 'competition' regarding Mapo Tofu. Sure, I loved the spicy thing, but I was also human and needed to not burn my belly because of some Tofu-addicted priest.

Returning back to the Rite, it had been a genuine surprise when Kirei had divulged one of the most secret miracles of the Church.

While it was very known by the Magus society that the Baptism Rite was commonly exerted by a verbal incantation, it was quite unknown that the Burial Agency had been quick to develop something 'cheaper' but still as effective as the originals one.

Studies on runes promoted by the Holy See were something that were mostly engaged for the sake of rendering old incantations easy to use to the newer generations and to more individuals than just a small group.

Thus Christian Runes were now a thing and… Zouken was burning like some BBQ food, his body collapsing as his spiritual self was banished from the World, as the filthy Wraith he was.

The barrier erected by Medea collapsed as soon as the worms all fell dead around it, giving the opportunity for the Servant to intervene about the drawbacks of killing Zouken.

Sakura started to violently convulse as the worms that were there to replace her previous Circuits started to die together with the other familiars, forcing Caster to quickly revitalize her former _Tohsaka_ ones.

The process was doable because of Medea's knowledge and ability to use Magic regarding this rare but known case of magical decline. It had been something back in the Age when the Princess of Colchis was still studying and it was part of her learning as she grew up to become the woman betrayed by Jason.

Still it wasn't something as cheap as it sounded, the magic requiring a large amount of mana and time for it to be accomplished. While the Servant continued with her ministrations with Sakura, I decided to see how Shirou was faring.

The redhead was smiling quietly, eyes mirthfully directed at me as I blinked in confusion and disappointment. "I hope you learned to not rush head on into danger now, you dolt."

His smile widened. "I-I think I… I think I-I do n-now."

I blinked again, this time crouching as I started to get up to stand up. "What do you mean you 'know no-"

I pulled him up, slowly and carefully, but only one of his arms was actually visible right now. In place of his left arm was a gory stump, blood still spilling out of it.

* * *

 **AN**

 **We are back with the new section of this seemingly endless tale (I blame… Netflix!)**

 **Why I waited this much to write again? I tried to get to see the HF movie as it was planned to be released on late June in Italy… but Netflix is still not dubbing it… DANGIT!**

 **But we are back for good now with the new schedule and… we got a new section of the story now.**

 **Yes, Zouken is dead and Sakura is… safe? The plot isn't finished, so much left to be accomplished and… prepare for some unexpected arrivals!**

 **This is the prelude for the end of everything you know of this Route. Things are going to get Alternative pretty soon.**

 **REVIEW Q &A!**

 **Guest (Chapter 2-3-4-5-7-8-9-10 and I think 21)** **: Man you are so far the most difficult guest to reply at and… I know I cannot force anyone to do much but could you write some different name than guest? It would help with the headaches that comes with the whole answering this many comments. Anyway, Taiga is annoying but can be mostly forgiven; does that mean I condone her overly-cheerful actions in something as gruesome as the War? Nope, but I still think she would be serious if she knew what was going on. Speaking of Illya, wasn't Iri a loli herself stuck in an adult body? And finally yes, Sakura need to scratch that itch very badly.**

 **Neema Amiry** **: Thank you!**

 **Marco Geddes** **: Sir, Yes sir!**

 **Guest 2 (Chapter 9):** **Kirei is quite creepy this story, yes.**

 **Guest (Chapter 17)** **: It is. Shirou's own 'attempt' was to catch the attention of someone. He is literally used left and right by people because 'no one' can see that he is pathologically selfless, almost like it was an obsession. He get the hard-work, get denied some merits but he is also stuck with that dumb Hero of Justice idea that screw any attempt to fight back this ill attitude. Sean is his only hope!**


	23. Thirsty

**DISCLAIMER**

 **The following is a fan-based**

 **FICTION**

 **F/SN, F/Z, F/KPI and other products related to the Fate Series are all owned by TYPE-MOON, Kinoko Nasu and Takashi Takeuchi.**

 **Please support the official release.**

* * *

 **Chapter 22:** **Thirsty**

* * *

Shirou was smiling like a kid that had just ingested an impressive amount of sugar and was starting to see through space and time.

That was what several painkillers and numbing medicines can do to a simple teen with heroic tendencies, especially when his mind was still recovering from that unique experience that only losing an arm can give to him.

Hours had passed ever since the redhead and Sakura were taken back to the Einzbern Castle and Illya spent most of this time leading the efforts of solving the issue her 'dumb little brother' had so kindly created on himself.

It didn't help that most of his Circuits were either burned or were burning even now. Operations with a patient in that kind of conditions was incredibly difficult and the young lady had to ask the help of her maids to properly stabilize the Emiya.

Shirou was an idiot and what he had just accomplished mere hours ago just confirmed what was already known to me from the very beginning of the 'Grand Debacle'.

While it was unusual for a Magus to know how to create new limbs, grand families like the Einzbern were quite prepared on the subject. The surgery took a toll on Illya's mind, forcing her to get some proper rest after everything had been safely concluded.

Lying quietly on her bed, the girl shifted once in a while to adjust her position. It was somewhat amusing how small and frail she could appear to my eyes, a sight mitigated by the fact I knew the Einzbern was quite strong when the situation demanded it.

Such a brave individual was rare.

It was odd how I got stuck with the task of softly patting her head as she continued to snore adorably under her warm covers. Diabetes was starting to become a serious concern for the near future.

I sighed, relaxing my back on the chair as I thought about the future plans for this War. Kotomine, Lancer and Gilgamesh were the only enemies alive and… I found myself doubting that the golden douche could be defeated without a massive amount of effort and firepower deployed against him.

The priest was subtle and I was fairly sure that he had the black belt of some martial arts. I mean, that _would_ explain why he had some training dummy left around the church's warehouse and why he looks so ripped under his religious robes.

Kung-Fu Christ? Seriously, was there a limit to the insanity of this competition?

Just as this question crossed my mind for the umpteenth time, I felt Illya's grasping my hand with her smaller ones. Her red eyes were boring on my skull as she seemed to be still tired.

"What's wrong?"

"You..." She started with a blink. "..should be in bed too."

I frowned at that curt statement. "You mean I should go to my room-"

"Bed now." Gulping nervously, I stared as she made space for me and…

It was either getting turned into a massive teddy bear by the sleepy Einzbern or be promptly kicked in the emotional nuts for refusing the offer. There wasn't much of a choice to start with, now that I think about it.

Without further ado, I shuffled inside the sheets and let the girl use my chest as a pillow. At least I could get some warmth off from her and… maybe get some rest from those nightmares.

* * *

The bed Sakura was currently resting on was by far the most comfortable one she had ever had the chance of sleeping onto… ever.

Not even back to her former life as a Tohsaka she had the luxury to try something this soft and warm. It was a blessing, one that added up with the fact she felt the Worms 'behaving' much better than before.

No more aggressively draining her prana, now keeping a passive attitude that left her with some relief from so many years of torture from Zouken. The old man was… death.

And yet the worms were still there, tainting what was left of her original Circuits while also keeping her alive.

She could feel Rider's connection more clearly than before, but the distance between the two left her a sour mood, feeling the distress the Servant was currently experiencing.

While she was surely keeping a blank mask to hide this detail, the Master-Servant connection was something no one could manage to lie, a way to keep the relationship in the team pure and unmitigated by the thoughts of betrayal between each other.

Medusa could have refused to work with Shinji, but she had complied with her 'brother', even with the disgusting personality she knew for.

 **She is so faithful~.**

Truly. She had been so considerate of the girl's condition and had been more than happy to help her with her plan to get her senpai-

 **Now, now, Shirou-senpai is currently sleeping. It is improper for us to think about that now.**

A teasing giggle echoed through her head as her cheeks flared in embarrassment at the pictures her mind was relaying with some specific thoughts.

 **Very** specific thoughts.

She hugged the large pillow closer the her chest, trying to ignore the growing heat in her chest. It was still a dreadful development the one that saw the redhead losing one of his arms.

All for her. And… yet she felt his efforts were not fueled by… her.

 **I told you that Shirou-senpai is more interested in his idea. You shouldn't get your hopes up because he was there.**

 _H-He tried to save us._

 **But**

 **We should go and thank Sean-senpai.** **After saving us** _ **and**_ **Shirou-senpai, I bet he would be tired… and needy of some comfort.**

 _What do you mean-_

 _ **His chest, so soft~ She snuggled closer as she felt like melting on him~**_

A shiver went through the plum-haired girl's spine, the sensation way _too_ realistic to be ruled out as a faux thought. Yet she was holding pretty well, a little bothered but… it was fine-

 _ **His heartbeat so melodious and… and his breath like a warm breeze going through her hair... so alluring~**_

Her heart skipped a beat, the sensation starting to get way _too_ interesting on her body. Her blush intensified as she rushed quickly to the nearest bathroom to her room.

 **Is someone needing another pair of panties?**

 _S-Shut up!_

But the images and the touch **was** so much endearing. It was caring, it was loving and… maybe she should see if Sean was right… after she finished replacing her former panties, now unusable for… water issues.

 **Water issues?**

 _It's your fault!_

 **This is your body, Sakura-chan, I can hardly do anything about it… This is your** _ **reaction**_ **.**

 _Ugh!_

* * *

Violet eyes continued to silently watch over the curious scene before her. Tip-toeing to the room her 'inner self' had mentioned where Sean-senpai at first appeared… strange. There were several portraits of objects of various kind, some bookshelves, a desk…

And a very small bed.

Sakura approached it and tilted her head at the sight in front of her. Attached to the teen was a very familiar Illyasviel von Einzbern, smiling widely as she snuggled her head onto the sleeping Sean Graham.

It was an odd reverie that struck within her mind, something that sounded wrong but also appropriate for the scene.

 _They look so…_

 **Disgusting? Treacherous? Horrible-**

 _N-No, I was going to say 'adorable'._

 **WHAT? Sakura-chan, remember that our target- I mean, we need to thank him properly and with that little brat we cannot do that.**

 _B-But isn't Illya-chan the one that is kindly giving us someplace to stay, a place close to Senpai as he recovers?_

 **That is because Sean-ku-** _ **senpai**_ **asked her to. It wasn't kindness, Sakura-chan, it's all about Sean-senpai.**

 _But why are you so fixated with Sean-senpai? You have yet to explain me why-_

 **Shirou-senpai will never love you, Sakura-chan.**

 _...W-What?_

 **Don't you think that, for someone as caring and understanding like him, it's motivations aren't as bright as you hope they are. He is selfish, he does this for himself and-**

"What are you doing here?"

The plum-haired girl 'eeped' as she turned around to see Rin's former Servant, Archer, standing right by the door. He looked serious and… her brain rebooted.

"I will not repeat my question again, **what** are you doing here, Sakura-san?"

She blinked as her eyes were now staring intensively at his hair, widening as the realization finally struck within her mind.

"S-Senpai?"

The Servant's frown intensified and- he realized why the girl sounded this much shocked. As he had just returned from the kitchen, his usual hair style had fallen to his former, Shirou-esque version.

He closed his eyes, sighing as once more his identity was discovered by someone from his past.

"Yes, Sakura?"

She made some steps towards him, he crossed his arms close to his chest and then- **Thud**

His back was pressed on the door as the girl slammed his head on his chest, crying instantly and forcing him to pat her head in reaction. " _Bwaah! Senpai, what happened to you?_ "

Another sigh. "Life happened."

" _Lia-ah-ar!"_ His shoulder collapsed a little as his face twitched with a sad expression.

Then she stopped all at once, her eyes darting up as they looked at each other. Her tear-stained face let out some brief sniffs. "I- I will save you!"

… "What?" The world constricted around the Archer as he tried to understand his koha- _No._ She wasn't **her.**

He had abandoned **her.**

"Y-You got super-tanned and- and your hair whitened. A-Are you a delinquent?"

"W-What? No!"

"But you are-"

"Listen, Sakura- _san_." EMIYA emphasized the formal honorific. "I am not 'Shirou Emiya', nor I will disappoint you with this fake hope of redeeming my past self."

 **Sakura-chan-**

"B-But I know senpai can be saved. I want to save him."

 **It's pointless. Archer has a point and-**

"Let her try." A familiar, masculine voice interceded.

They both looked at the bed to find out… that both occupants were awake and staring at them back.

"M-Master, my past self-"

"Is a moron." Sean stated quickly. "A very foolish moron with some super-hero complex going within his brain. And there is only a solution for this all."

He turned to look at her, a small teasing smile forming.

 **No-!**

"You need to take his V-card, Sakura-san." Illya finished, drawing the horrified stare of the Servant and the shocked one from the plum-haired girl.

"W-What? B-But Senpai is-"

"Someone that needs to lose an arm to understand that he cannot attack someone like Zouken."

Sakura flinched and the teen sighed.

"Look, I know it might sound extreme in a normal situation." He coughed a little. "But Shirou is far from 'normal' regarding emotions. You need to use drastic actions to get something cross his brain."

He turned to EMIYA. "Am I right, _Shirou_?"

Archer groaned and was about to reply to this senseless mess when the Matou decided to speak out.

"I-I will do it!"

 **What? Absolutely not!**

 _It needs to be done-_

 **Shirou betrays us. He always goes for the others, never us-**

 _Have you tried to show him that kind of love?_

 **We 'shared' the bed, yes. But-**

 _But was it for love? Did he consider it for love?_

… **Actually no…**

 _Then this s-should be tried! We cannot give up on him...!_

"Sakura, this is not something that will work-"

"Illya-chan, do you have your former dossier about Shirou around in the room?"

The Einzbern nodded as she pointed her finger at the desk right beside Sakura as the girl went to check and… there was an extensive paperwork about the redhead. "W-What?"

"I wanted to know everything about my Oniichan." The white-haired girl replied calmly. "I wanted when and where I could lure him early in the War."

… "Ah.."

"It's not that bad, Illya doesn't see the need to go after Shirou and-"

"S-Sean-senpai, there is a dossier about you there too."

… "What?" For some reason Illya looked away from the boy as he was now staring at her with some suspect.

As this unfolded, Sakura glanced at the first page of the documents and… part of those were things he knew about the young Emiya already.

But there were details and… photos she had never had the chances to know. Medical documents, vaccinations and several transactions of money from one Raiga Fujimura about repairing bikes for him.

"B-But why would you help if you dislike senpai?"

That made Sean shift his focus back on her. "Oh but that is the reason alright."

… "What-"

"Shirou has been a constant thorn to my poor side. Always trying to poke around for some friendship I don't want to offer and… if he gets a girlfriend I think he will stop harassing me once and for all."

"So… It would be a win-win for the two-" "Three, I just want my Oniichan set for life."

The Matou nodded with a blush at the hint about a future wedding. _A pretty white dress._

"T-Three of us?"

They all nodded, all except Archer. The Servant seemed ready to protest at this insanity but… he surrendered at the fact that with this much support, this idea was going to be hardly put aside by the devoted Kohai.

"Also, why are you here, Sakura-san?" Illya piqued with a confused look.

 **Indeed, what are** _ **you**_ **doing here, traitor?**

The girl gulped nervously, blushing at the idea that she will have to find an excuse to avoid bringing out the real 'reason' she got there at this hour and… without notice.

 _T-This is embarassing._

* * *

 **AN**

 **Sakura is confused, Dark Sakura is fuming, Archer is stomped, Sean is hugged by Illya as the little Einzbern continue to slowly climb up the relationship she is building with him.**

 **The world spin round and round and… What happened to Rin?**

 _ **Expect a lot of fluff next chapter as the endgame is just around the corner now.**_

 **Also ever heard of Evangelion? And One Hour Photo? The Xover is now available by SocialistBukharin!**

 **P a treon . com (slash) socialistbukharin**

 **REVIEW Q &A!**

 **Reader0007** **: I had thought of that… but Archer is alive. Also Magi are meant to know how to regrow limbs, at least those from old families so… Shirou got a normal hand… and will be restricted in his tracing. Worry not, he will still manage through with his sheer ingenuity around Magecraft.**

 **Maybe** **: I mean would it be forced on her if she is the one thirsty about him? And she slowly tries to get in his pants? Of course nothing lemony will happen in the fic in general, but she will get some action in the background once things are over and… she gets some changes on herself.**

 **Dante** **: This is Archer EMIYA. His knowledge is limited to Canon Routes, not to the fics' paths. So no, he doesn't remember those alternative timelines.**


	24. Planning a Party

**DISCLAIMER**

 **The following is a fan-based**

 **FICTION**

 **F/SN, F/Z, F/KPI and other products related to the Fate Series are all owned by TYPE-MOON, Kinoko Nasu and Takashi Takeuchi.**

 **Please support the official release.**

* * *

 **Chapter 23:** **Planning a Party**

* * *

Rin Tohsaka knew she had reached her lowest.

The few days that followed her losing her Servant to the insufferable idiot that was Sean Graham, coupled with the fact she had her reputation back at school ruined by the same bastard, had severely left her depressed.

The first two days were spent in her bed, either weeping or staring silently at the ceiling. Food was not a concern of hers, _her_ Archer having long prepared several delicious treats in case something would have happened to him during the War. A kind gesture that further riddled her metaphorical wound with ironical salt as she had indeed 'lost' her Servant, but he hadn't died.

No, he had been stolen by that abominable moron that was that third- _No! Fourth-rate Magus_ that luckily managed to copy the Gandr, refine it and then call it his own. A disgusting claim that didn't help with the overall distress she had been facing for a while.

Raiding her father's old study gave her little things to work upon, the lack of jewels killing off most of the possible plans of assaulting the fortress that was the Einzbern's Castle since her strongest spells were attached to Jewelcraft… which required gems.

Being mostly poor and dependent on Kirei's miser allowance, the young Tohsaka planned some external interventions to solve her lack of materials. Several options passed to her mind and she dreadfully considered contacting the Edelfelt family and… use their blood relation to get something out of them. A horrible plan, she knew that, but the terrible limitations she had to face were hardly reachable and everything mattered.

Everything mattered to erase permanently that _captivating_ smug of his-

Rin facepalmed harshly, her head then banging on the wood desk of her room as she tried to suppress one of the major effects of being a young lady in a competition of fellow students.

Shirou was utterly dense to any probing, Issei was detestable, Shinji was thankfully dead and… Sean was with that little puppet Einzbern. It was infuriating how things had turned out to be, how she could have gained an easy victory if she had reached out for the boy and ditched the Emiya early on.

So many possibilities and… no. The girl was not going to cry over the spilled milk, knowing that time couldn't be reversed at her whim and… things were not going to disappear if she kept thinking of the past. _Her_ Servant was still alive and could be recovered with proper planning and equipment.

Days passed, no solution presented to her in the form of magecraft that could be exploited to breach the Boundary Fields around the Castle. Nothing from her father's diary, nor her grandfather's.

Things would have been a tad bit easier if the bastard hadn't taken Ruby with him. As much as she despised the Mystic Code for its eccentric antics that tended to humiliate her more than help, the power it held within itself would have been enough to face thousands of Servants at once. An overpowered object which cost was the pride and modesty of the user.

Thinking about this, Rin found herself smiling at the idea the boy had to have transformed at least once with Ruby, thus being forced to wear the… _magical girl standard uniform_. A giggle or two followed at the swearing that would ensue and- No, why was she thinking of him like that!

Nonononononononono! She couldn't afford to think of her enemy in that light! She had a wish to obtain and she can't give it up.

Her dream will become reality!

 _And she will make the gorgeous bastard suffer too-Wait! OH, GODDAMMIT!_

* * *

Red eyes bored onto Sean's face as the boy sighed, eyes closed and hand massaging his own nose.

Gilgamesh was staring blankly as he waited patiently for something to happen, a reaction to the news he had dropped to the young man that could change the pace of the War.

The fact he couldn't predict anything about the simple human was intriguing as infuriating. Yet now the King of Heroes hardly passed out any of his inner emotions, trying to study the subject before him. A mongrel by all means, Sean Graham was unexpectedly pleasant to have around.

Never uppity, just a little bit annoying but still capable of bringing up quite the interesting entertainment. It was addictive how his presence would improve an experience his mind had already studied, memorized and rendered superficial.

Videogames should have been boring to him by all means, finding no uniqueness that could lift his brow and urge him to check the devices himself… yet Sean's interest in at least trying something that the Archer had already labeled a nuisance than an entertaining object showed him an ulterior outlook of said object. Displeasure at losing or being beaten by his 'enemy', the marvel as he found himself comparing some places with Uruk and other cities he 'knew' about and the oddly satisfying sensation that keep him going during those brief sessions.

Further studying was made, showing that indeed he was glad of having someone like Sean around. A fresh mind, an individual that didn't mind giving his own perception of things and someone that didn't care for his role.

It was odd for someone legitimated by the World to rule over everything to think of this as a good attribute and this wasn't even the case. It wasn't the single element that made him stand up, but the entirety of the boy's being actually representing something he had found with Enkidu. Someone willing to butt heads when their own ideas were opposed or outright refused.

There wasn't any of his first friend's strength within the Master of Assassin, but the flame within him was there. His mind would also contemplate a possible meeting between the two individuals and… he almost cracked a smile at it.

The green-haired airhead that was Enkidu would probably clash with Sean's no-nonsense policies. Scenes so amusing and entertaining and funny to even image.

Funny. How odd to use that word now of all times.

When was the last time he had used it? When he was still a child?

His musing stumbled to return his attention back to reality as the young man spoke after few moment of confused and irritated thinking.

"What do you mean Kirei gave up?!"

The tone was loud, annoying even, but Gilgamesh merely sighed as this wasn't unusual with Sean. "The priest decided the War was growing too… unpredictable. While he would gain pleasure at the insanity that would unfold, he is far too entrenched in the idea of self-preservation."

He paused a moment and then continued. "Plus he received a letter from… a friend of his."

"And you know its content."

A smile adorned the King's face at the quick response, happy to know his 'friend' knew about him that well. "Indeed. Let's just say that Kotomine is going to leave Fuyuki as soon as the War is over. Some issues with his daughter."

… "He has a daughter? Shouldn't priests be forbidden to pursue relationships that led to that?"

"In normal circumstances it would be the case." The ruler replied as he stared at the empty glass in his hand.

As they were talking privately and away from interruptions, the maids of the Castle had been bringing treats and drinks to pass the time. Decent, if not bland compared to Uruk's fine cuisine… but Humanity at this stage was far from that standards altogether and 'whining' more would be just redundant.

"So Lancer-"

"The Dog has been dealt with. Some lament from the mongrel but nothing worthwhile for this discussion… speaking of which, I should bring up the main focus of my visit today."

Sean's eyes stared intensively at the small bottle containing some light-purplish substance in it that Gilgamesh brought out of his Gates.

"What is that?"

"With Kotomine retiring, I will need a new Master to remain in this plane of existence. And that is why-"

"I cannot sustain another Servant, Gil. Plus I know that your body is far from the usual one a Servant should have." Surprising the boy, the Archer nodded at the interruption, glancing briefly at the vial.

"I can already feel that your Circuits are tiring with this much drain and, while my body is indeed made up from the mud of the Grail, this is the solution for this all… but I need an oath."

"What?"

The king closed his eyes and let a moment of silence pass before answering. "Swear to me that you will become my Master and I shall reveal to you what-"

"How about you tell me what it is and I choose if do this oath or not?" The human butted in again with his trademark impertinence and… the blond smiled, knowing that there was a chance of his ploy actually succeeding… finally.

"This is a De-Aging Potion. With this I will be able to revert the corruption and reduce my body to an acceptable level. Smaller the body, lesser will be the drain on your prana."

He blinked, eyes narrowing as he thought about this explanation and… he sighed.

"You truly want to join the winning wagon, don't you? But seriously..." He blinked twice before continuing with a single word. "Why?"

"My reasons are not a matter of concern, as those are not going to be harmful for anyone you trust and are attached to."

Gilgamesh stopped there, preparing his mind to some senseless interrogation session just as the boy was usual to do-

"Okay".

\- and then- Wait- "What?" Gob-smacked, the Archer looked confused at the sudden acceptance of his proposal, his mind failing to grasp this unusual turn of events.

Yet the following explanation made sense to him… in some sense.

"I am already busy with some kind of an intervention and, if I have to be honest, I know that you would easily go berserk if I said no- Yes, I know that you could and would do that if case needed it, so stop looking that irked because it's true and you know it."

Indeed he was feeling frustrated at being caught in his reaction so quickly, giving him no time to return back to his blank expression. Truly a different kind of mongrel.

Without thinking too much about this all, Gilgamesh made the big step, bringing the vial close to his lips and completely downing the content.

"So… how many years are you going to lo-ah!" A sudden blinding light emerged from the Heroic Spirit, forcing the human to cover his eyes as the transformation begin. Gilgamesh could feel his body growing smaller, child-like and then… his mind started to feel lighter.

An odd development, the potion was meant to only turn his body to a younger part of his life not… his… _mind…_

Slowly his confusion melt in tiredness and the rough paranoia was turned in mere surprise as two naive-looking red orbs now found themselves staring at the confused ones of Sean Graham.

"G-Gil?" He seemed awe-struck at the sight before him. Inside the bundle of larger clothes, a young teen with blond hair and a friendly smile nodded back.

"That is me, Sean!"

Gone was the regal and formal King of Heroes, on his place was a young boy looking as giddy a child should be. A little Gil, a Kid Gil.

* * *

 **AN**

 **I may have miscalculated some stuff of my plan. While Fluff was initially expected for this chapter, I decided that the content that was meant to be given this chapter… will be posted in the next one. Why? I prefer to give Rin a little more time to explore the opportunity to make a tactical entrance and… it will be explosive.**

 **Speaking of Rin, I am gambling with my wording up above for… good reasons. While many would rejoice for me kicking the Tsundere a step or two, I think moderation is necessary and that bashing is not an option.**

 **Thus, much to people's surprise, I plan to give Rin a new quirk. Will it be a full-fledged ship? Nope, but it will give her a reason to hang around after this is all completed.**

 **Lastly I have massive, massive news: I have started working on a Fan-Game (A VN on Renpy) based on this story. The first built will have the first two chapters, changed a little, explored more and given a better tonality. The reason this news is given now is because I can also tell that I will soon upload the first images of what I am doing and… the artist working on the new sprites has finished Shirou's first one. Still had to color it (will do it myself) but I am positive that this project will soar mightily in the sky.**

 **The pace is sluggish but if I get some donations in the proper channels down below I could improve more and speed up accordingly the progress of the built.**

 **P a treon . com (slash) socialistbukharin**

 **REVIEW Q &A!**

 **Reader0007** **: Sakura will have it difficult in the next chapter as her Inner will…** ** _snap_** **.**

 **Empetiness** **: Sadly that will not be the case… in the normal ending. There will be a special, funny and non-canon one after the True one.**

 **Darkjaden** **: Your analysis of Shirou is incorrect in some parts:**  
 **A) Shirou remembers the memories before the Fire, in the VN he says the reason why he doesn't bring them up is because those are strong memories that he doesn't want to remember too much about;**  
 **B) HF Shirou is actually trying to balance his need to save everyone and those close to him, ending up in a growth of his character and an understanding that saving people is right… when it is possible. To go to far means that you are not doing it for the sake of saving them but… because of selfish ideas. Ignoring yourself and putting a cost to save others is unacceptable for a true good guy, someone that defy the logic imposed on them and succeed with pure determination;**  
 **C) While many compare HF Shirou to the Miyuverse Shirou, there is a large divide with the two as the latter's world is already dying. Natural disasters, the Church is dissolving and Kotomine doesn't care of torturing people (That last one is truly tragic), this Shirou wasn't fully indoctrinated to the belief of helping others for the sake of guilt and his relationship with Kiritsugu was more strained than in FSN. In fact, going against his caretaker's wish to use Miyu as a Grail to save the world, he refuse. He is a child, too young to truly go for that bloody road and… he is a big brother. Miyu is his sister, his only relative, and I will be honest with you, if I was in his shoes I would have gone way more berserk than he did.**  
 **D) While most of the people in the intervention will fail to send the message through, there will be one that will actually make him step back a little and reflect on his life. And no, it is not Archer.**  
 **Still, a good analysis that if it had been given some extra material would have made my replying a little more difficult. From what I understand you have seen the movie, but not read the Manga section from which it comes from and I would advice to look at it. The Prillya Manga has some major lore that the anime ignore and… this reply has gone a little far. Read the material, Anime only do little nowadays about the Nasuverse.**

 **LifeByTheCreed** **: Something is already being planned for that…**

 **Ruberforumfree** **: It's more that I wish to not get Thanos'd by the mods for posting MA-rated stuff. Also the Aegean Holiday Lemon has been posted in AO3, in The Daily Lemon.**


	25. Fail-safe

**DISCLAIMER**

 **The following is a fan-based**

 **FICTION**

 **F/SN, F/Z, F/KPI and other products related to the Fate Series are all owned by TYPE-MOON, Kinoko Nasu and Takashi Takeuchi.**

 **Please support the official release.**

* * *

 **Chapter 24:** **Fail-safe**

* * *

 _ **Dover, 1810**_

"Lovely Justeaze, you sure jest with this proposition of yours."

The pale-haired woman didn't flinch at the immediate refusal, her simple but essential idea worthy of being fought for in this instance despite the sudden opposition of the Makiri.

The construction of the Greater Grail was proceeding smoothly, Zelretch's supervision quickening the straining pace to a more comfortable speed thanks to his knowledge of the unknown arcane, while Nagato's ingenuity in exploring all the viable options to implement the various necessities of the complex amplifier was quite the most pleasing of helps.

Ignoring another scowl from the annoying worm-loving pest, the Head of the Noble Einzbern Clan decided to formally write down the basis for the emergency plans for their creation, the means to disable it in case someone tried to use it against them or deter those whose intentions were less than 'pure' from even reaching out for the powerful wish-craft magecraft.

It had been a painful conflict the one she had experienced in forcing her family to accept conceding some of the secrets about the Third Magic for the sake of achieving a clear and safe path to the Route.

The cool weather of England was prone in this area, helping her fellow creators in finding some relative peace in this suave place that reminded them all of home. The war in Europe impaired any attempt to pursue their research comfortably in Germany, where the best equipment was currently present. T

The French Emperor was showing to be quite the chaos-bringer with his ambitions of world-conquering, creating some annoyance even to the local Magus communities.

Yet she couldn't lie in saying that part of her was interested in this individual, the very man defined the 'Spirit of Time' by the renowned philosopher Georg Hegel.

A simple commoner that broke out from the meek tradition and the simple destiny bestowed to him by fate itself, while bringing the greatest powers of their time to a difficult and precarious moment, smiling as he did such monumental things.

It was an inspiring act to Justeaze Lizrich Einzbern, even through said inspiration was from France.

The very reason that truly pushed her to reject the stoic duties imposed to her by her family, as a mere homunculus without a major importance within her. She was even the one that carefully brought the clan out of their isolation to try and achieve the greatest of goals a Magus wished for: the mysterious Akashic Records.

Many had tried and failed with the process of reaching out for that unknown element of their lives, but what made this endeavor more than tangible than the rest was the team she had composed for the task and the plan had set to achieve those dreams of hers.

It was a silly concept, a _dull doll_ trying to bring true peace to humanity, the end of all terrible plights rendering this Era the proof that the end was near.

It was that very first inspiration that reached out for this mindset of hers to happen. Napoleon was surely a harbinger of war where he went, but where he shattered the old chains, he would then stop to build something better, stronger, _less prone to death._

It was a shocking but fluttering emotion that urged her the more she considered the greatness this man was climbing, urging her in continuing for this glorious and heavenly path that was to bring the best future possible to everyone.

Zolgen shared this ideals without any hesitaiton, but the Einzbern thought it a pity that the lone Tohsaka preferred to stick with his religious morals rather to something beyond the Godly and the sinful of his limited perception of life, but this disappointment did actualy bring some relief to her.

The Makiri was easy to manipulate and treacheries were something she feared the most because of the importance of this grand project of hers and the Tohsaka had long proved to be someone resourceful, smart and terribly intelligent when he wanted.

A simple mistake, a simple betrayal could easily undo everything she had worked for, all the efforts and the energy spent in getting to this point and… that wasn't acceptable to her.

She felt a shadow hovering over her as she continued to sit quietly in her chair, hands silently creating words and notes in her papers.

Red eyes blinked up and she frowned at the sight of pale blue orbs. "What kind of… fail-safe are you talking about, Justeaze-chan?"

A little glint of victory appeared in her rubies as she knew she had caught his attention and her smile widened at the delightful scoff coming from Zolgen, the man annoyed by the fact his authority was undermined once more by his two colleagues.

It was a perk that between the scorned mask was some hints of jealousy, further reminding her about the very thing that kept the annoying Magus tied to her.

The fact that he was crushing on her? Adorable to some extent, but creepy after a while as the man did prefer worms to people and Justeaze couldn't certainly condone such behavior. Maybe if it had been Nagato…

"A deterrent of sort." She mused out-loud, curtly but sure. "A Servant that… would represent the purity of the Grail."

She blinked, her mind flooding her with all the details she wanted to have to continue her argumentation, reminding her of her prime inspiration, the fearless individual that still knew about his limits. " _A Herrscher!_ "

The Russian-born Magus frowning at the German term but repeating it out of curiosity. "A… Ruler?"

Her smile intensified at the English translation and she started to style out the various details, limitations and powers of this impartial Leaders among Kings, its functions and its personality.

An example of virtue and morality. A being that showed the emotions and the feelings to preserve the Grail's true intentions.

A being worthy of the greatest of powers!

Her eyelids closed as Nagato head-patted her, his smile a reaction to the complex stipulation of rules and descriptions in depth about this particular element.

It wasn't the first time the odd Japanese man would do that but, after almost two years of dealing with him, that gesture had soon turned into something… pleasant and acceptable.

What a caring and strange individual that was Zelretch's apprentice.

* * *

Rin frowned at the sealing array she had to alter for this specific attempt.

While her initial knowledge about the Holy Grail War was limited to the simple Seven Servant rule as Kotomine and her father had told her, the diary she had found from the founder of the Clan, Nagato Tohsaka, proved that the competition was more difficult than she had long thought.

While the Greater Grail was built as something incredibly powerful and its inner workings were unknown to everyone but the founders and Zelretch, the idea that there was an Eight Servant Class was completely unheard off but added numerous opportunities to comeback from her current predicament.

A Ruler, an objective mediator that worked to right the injustices perpetrated during a Holy Grail War as a mean to avoid the misuse of the dangerous magecraft hiding within it. An attempt to keep the competition clean from terrible tricks and foul plans that could befell to fair Masters, while preserving a pure and just mindset about those wronged in the spirit of genuine balance.

The Ritual was fairly simple, a small difference from the usual Servant one and so, without wasting further time and efforts, the young Tohsaka started the process with determination filling her words.

" **Silver and iron to the origin. Gem and the archduke of contracts to the cornerstone.**

 **The ancestor is my great master Schweinorg.**

 **The alighted wind becomes a wall. The gates in the four directions close, coming from the crown, the three-forked road that leads to the kingdom circulate.**

 **Shut (fill). Shut (fill). Shut (fill). Shut (fill). Shut (fill).**

 **Repeat every five times. Simply, shatter once filled.**

―――― **I announce.**

 **Your self is under me, my fate(doom) is in your judgment.**

 **Respecting the rules and laws of the Holy Grail, if you abide by this desire, this ambition, then answer.**

 **Here is my oath. I am the one who becomes all what is right in the world of the damned, I am the one who lays out all the wrong done in the name of the world of the empty.**

 **You, harbinger of Absolute Truth and Justice, arrive from the ring of deterrence, O keeper of the balance ―――"**

The same lights that predated Archer's arrival did happen, yet Rin was quite surprised to see flames forming by the ends of the circles, burning fiercely as she continued with the chanting before finally converging in front of her.

Red turned black, a figure emerging from the unholy sights, a strong Servant answering her call of help. Soon the fire dimmed to nothingness and only the new being, a young woman with a dark armor emerged.

She looked similar to Saber, but it would be wrong of her to say that the two were the same individual. Short hair, pale golden matching with the paler skin-tone visible from that conservative and threatening gear. In her hands was a long flag, the symbol there representing not a nation, but something confusing but familiar.

A dragon, a monster that represented evil in Christian mythology and signified something about the dreadful aura covering the receiver of her call

Then pure gold eyes opened to match her sapphires, an intense staring followed. The Servant- no, _Ruler_ smiled a small smile as she nodded her head at the poor girl.

"Servant Ruler at your service." She paused, twitching all amused and gleeful. " _Master_."

A chill went down the Tohsaka's spine but it was too late to back away from this dreadful encounter. The War was her to win with this new edge and she nodded back.

"I am your Master, Ruler." She gulped nervously as the following grin was even worse than she had thought. "M-May I ask about your name?"

The woman didn't speak at first, taking a step, then two closer to her partner, eyes preying upon the naive Magus as plans slowly formed in her contorted mind.

The fires that killed her back in France, her final denial of the Good Lord that was supposed to guard His children from the most terrible of fates had led her to this squalid predicament, away from the treachery that saw her killed by her enemies, before the joyous people that she once wanted to save for the sake of Justice.

Gone was her dream, a darker and more twisted soul left in her bare mind as she accepted that this was still _something_ , a situation to work upon and… her _Master_ wasn't a terrible one either Prana-wise.

"Why, of course." She started with a smooth tone, enjoying the terror she was urging within the silly girl that tried to get something out of a corrupted Cup.

" **I am the Dragon Witch and the Scorned of France, my name is Jeanne D'Arc, Master.** "

* * *

 **AN**

 **So… nobody ever thought about Justeaze and Nagato's relationship? I mean, there is** _ **potential headpatting material there!**_

 **Rin-chan screwed herself while also getting some blessing out of the curse that is the illiterate Dragon Witch.**

 **P a treon . com (slash) socialistbukharin**

 **REVIEW Q &A!**

 **Silver Remoraid** **: I would kill for a good Beta-Reader- And by 'good' I mean someone that isn't ditching the job the very first day. But yes, thank you!**

 **Ruberforumfree** **: I am a shy smut writer that prefer to not deal with the restrictive rules of this site. That is why I picked AO3 and its lenient rules about the matter.**

 **Reader0007** **: Oh worry not, Shirou is going to get a special weird ending after the True Ending chapter. I've been thinking about that, but I feel very unsure about going back word-by-word over the Singularities- Plus the special cases like Nerofest and other of the kind! It could be a maybe for another story of mine which… goes beyond the Nasuverse. Will point it out when that story reaches that Universe.**

 **CrappyIdiots** **: Those are not dumb questions: I've plans for a Prillya installment for this series which will be not the classic 'Oc with super-harem kind of things', I've plans for a sole main pairing and some ecchi shenanigans within the story. I think… yes. Sean would work well as a Saber, maybe a little monarch I've planned to introduce as a Servant…**

 **Maybe** **: Maybe he will not die this time around…**

 **Imperiumjay** **: This already happens in the Fate Route (yet to be published) and the UGG Route (In need of some rewriting in the near future), I think this Route break the tradition,** _ **literally**_ **.**

 **Guest:** **I don't think Deadpool's soul can be taken by another host that isn't the original Wade Wilson.**


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